by World Moms Blog | Apr 14, 2012 | Eva Fannon, Kids, Motherhood, Parenting, Saturday Sidebar, Scoops of Joy, Susie Newday, World Motherhood
This week World Moms Blog writer Ms. V. asks,
“Monetary costs aside, what do you perceive as the pros and cons of raising an only child?”
Check out what some of our World Moms had to say…
Mamma Simona of South Africa writes:
“I’ve found that only children are usually very gifted academically but not as good on the social front. We chose to have 2 children relatively close together (3 yrs) because my hubby’s experience of being 8 yrs younger than his sister had the negatives of being an only child (e.g. EXTREMELY overprotective mother and nobody to play with) without the positive of being better off financially! Please don’t everybody jump down my throat now – this is just MY experience and I’m quite sure that not everyone is the same!” (more…)
World Moms Blog is an award winning website which writes from over 30 countries on the topics of motherhood, culture, human rights and social good. Over 70 international contributors share their stories from around the globe, bonded by the common thread of motherhood and wanting a better world for their children.
World Moms Blog was listed by Forbes Woman as one of the "Best 100 Websites for Women 2012 & 2013" and also called a "must read" by the NY Times Motherlode in 2013. Our Senior Editor in India, Purnima Ramakrishnan, was awarded the BlogHer International Activist Award in 2013.
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by World Moms Blog | Apr 13, 2012 | Canada, Contest, Motherhood, World Motherhood
The winner of a World Moms Blog t-shirt from our previous caption contest is reader, Elizabeth’s Boys, who commented,
“AHHH!!!! You’re getting my best dress from Target all wet!”
It’s time for another caption contest with JC Little, the Animated Woman, of Montreal, Canada! She has created this next animation especially for World Moms Blog! Winner receives a World Moms Blog t-shirt!

Now, it’s up to you to tell us what this mama or baby is saying! It can be funny, cultural, in another language (please translate, too!), or make a statement. Leave your caption in the comments section of this post, and our editors will pick their favorite caption! (more…)
World Moms Blog is an award winning website which writes from over 30 countries on the topics of motherhood, culture, human rights and social good. Over 70 international contributors share their stories from around the globe, bonded by the common thread of motherhood and wanting a better world for their children.
World Moms Blog was listed by Forbes Woman as one of the "Best 100 Websites for Women 2012 & 2013" and also called a "must read" by the NY Times Motherlode in 2013. Our Senior Editor in India, Purnima Ramakrishnan, was awarded the BlogHer International Activist Award in 2013.
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by Astrid Warren (Norway) | Apr 11, 2012 | Motherhood, Norway, Pregnancy, Siblings, World Motherhood
Having just been for my 18-week scan, and seeing that all is well, I feel like I am finally starting to relax a bit. After two miscarriages last year, I have been careful not to get my hopes up too much, but now I feel like I can start to think about the future.
The morning sickness is starting to ease off slowly (after having it 24 hours a day, it is only in the morning now) and I am starting to feel like having my latte in the morning, so I think it is going the right way now. (It probably also helps that spring is finally here and that the days are longer and lighter).
We are so excited about having number two – but at the same time, it is slightly scary.
Maybe ‘scary’ isn’t the right word, but we know it will change our current life, and especially the life of our wee lad who has just turned two. How do we go about preparing him for this big change, and how do we best take care of him through all this? I am quite tired at the moment, and have a feeling it is going to get worse (I am not one of those mothers who ‘glow’ during pregnancy and get extra energy; I am quite the opposite! ) – and I can’t blame ‘the tummy’ for being tired all the time, as I don’t want him to ‘dislike’ the baby even before it is born! (more…)
Astrid is a Norwegian thirty something, married, working mum to a wee lad who is almost three and a baby born in 2012! She grew up in Norway, but moved to London, England after she met her husband. After living there during her twenties, she has since returned to Norway and settled down in her nation's capital of Oslo to raise her family.
She finds herself slowly turning into her own mother as her free time is spent reading, walking, knitting and meeting up with other mums for coffee. (Ok, she still secretly loves going to the pub, too!). However, there isn't much time for any of the above, as she now enjoys spending most of her time crawling around on the floor, while playing with her children! Check out her blog, Quintessentially Burrows. She's also on Twitter @MrsSWarren.
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by World Moms Blog | Apr 10, 2012 | Adoption, Adoptive Parents, Guest Post, Human Rights, International, Motherhood, World Motherhood, World Voice

Photo of writer holding and meeting her son for the first time in the orphanage in Saigon, Vietnam.
On a hot, steamy day in August of 2008, my husband and I stepped off of an airplane in Saigon, Vietnam. Mere moments after touching down in this faraway land, we found ourselves standing outside of an orphanage in the sweltering summer heat, waiting to meet someone we had only seen in pictures.
And that’s when it happened; my life changed in two very important ways. An eleven-month old child was placed into my arms, and in an instant I was simultaneously transformed into a first-time mother as well as an advocate for the voiceless children of the world.
Looking back, it is hard to believe that such a profound change in how I defined myself could have happened in a single, solitary moment. Months later I would realize how that one moment would end up overthrowing and redirecting the entire trajectory of my life.
After returning home, I started thinking about all the children we had seen in Vietnam, especially the ones residing in the orphanage. Once you see their faces, you cannot forget them. Those of us in the international adoption community know this truth all too well: life in an orphanage is hard, and it can be devastating physically, emotionally and mentally.
As I witnessed my son struggle through his own post-institutional trauma, it seemed that I carried the images of his orphanage mates with me constantly. I would stare at my son and be overtaken with a sense of responsibility to help take care of those we left behind. I had no idea where to start. I began researching about the plight of children, families and orphans in Vietnam. (more…)
World Moms Blog is an award winning website which writes from over 30 countries on the topics of motherhood, culture, human rights and social good. Over 70 international contributors share their stories from around the globe, bonded by the common thread of motherhood and wanting a better world for their children.
World Moms Blog was listed by Forbes Woman as one of the "Best 100 Websites for Women 2012 & 2013" and also called a "must read" by the NY Times Motherlode in 2013. Our Senior Editor in India, Purnima Ramakrishnan, was awarded the BlogHer International Activist Award in 2013.
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by World Moms Blog | Apr 8, 2012 | 2012, International, Motherhood, World Moms Blog Itinerary, World Motherhood
Put on your seatbelts, because we’re off to Israel on Monday! Susie Newday talks about that thing that we sometimes love, sometimes hate, and always worry about in terms of its effect on our kids – the TV.
A message of unity and seeing things beyond how you see them and…breathing. Intrigued? We’ve really got something special for you on Tuesday in our Social Good column! Jenny Flynn of Colorado, USA, a woman who offers opportunities for healing through creative expression and embodied practice is guest posting for World Moms Blog!
On Tuesday evening, we have another great guest post — this time in our Human Rights column! Lauren, mother of 2 boys, in the U.S. shares her story of international adoption and her motivation to help children in orphanages in Vietnam. This mother who also writes about the great outdoors and autism is amazingly inspirational. (more…)
World Moms Blog is an award winning website which writes from over 30 countries on the topics of motherhood, culture, human rights and social good. Over 70 international contributors share their stories from around the globe, bonded by the common thread of motherhood and wanting a better world for their children.
World Moms Blog was listed by Forbes Woman as one of the "Best 100 Websites for Women 2012 & 2013" and also called a "must read" by the NY Times Motherlode in 2013. Our Senior Editor in India, Purnima Ramakrishnan, was awarded the BlogHer International Activist Award in 2013.
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by Ecoziva (Brazil) | Apr 5, 2012 | Brazil, Motherhood, World Motherhood
Looking back, I think my son’s potty training went pretty smoothly. Using a mix of cloth diapers, disposables and some elimination communication (intuitively, because at the time I didn’t even know about that concept), he was completely diaper free at 18 months, even at night.
However, now that I have a daughter (13 months) other issues arise, and suddenly I am at loss at what to do. Let me try to explain.
First of all, in between my two children, I read a book on elimination communication (EC) and decided to give it a more consistent try with my next child. For those of you who are not aware with EC, it is a practice that was quite common in the past (and is still used in several countries)and that eventually got “lost”. (more…)
Eco, from the greek oikos means home; Ziva has many meanings and roots, including Hebrew (brilliance, light), Slovenian (goddess of life) and Sanskrit (blessing). In Brazil, where EcoZiva has lived for most of her life, giving birth is often termed “giving the light”; thus, she thought, a mother is “home to light” during the nine months of pregnancy, and so the penname EcoZiva came to be for World Moms Blog.
Born in the USA in a multi-ethnic extended family, EcoZiva is married and the mother of two boys (aged 12 and three) and a five-year-old girl and a three yearboy. She is trained as a biologist and presently an university researcher/professor, but also a volunteer at the local environmental movement.
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