by Susie Newday (Israel) | Jan 31, 2012 | Death and Dying, Israel, Life Lesson, Motherhood, Parenting, Susie Newday, World Motherhood
*Just a warning to those who find it hard to talk about death, this post uses the D word quite a bit. But the point it makes is really good food for thought.
I’m a planner.
Actually if I am truly honest, I am more of a slowly recovering control freak. I am the kind of person who even thinks about trying to control their own funeral. Yes, I know that is slightly twisted, but I guess my ability to laugh at the funny parts of death (and yes, you can find humor in death) is what has kept me sane after years of ER and oncology nursing.
So it should come as no surprise that for years I have been thinking about writing “goodbye letters.” You know, the ones I am talking about. The ones that get opened if you walk out of your house one day to go to work and end up never coming back.
Those personalized heartfelt letters written to your loved ones telling them what you loved about them, what they meant to you and what you wish for them for the future now that you’re not there in person anymore to tell them.
Yet something has been holding me back. (more…)
Susie Newday is a happily-married American-born Israeli mother of five. She is an oncology nurse, blogger and avid amateur photographer.
Most importantly, Susie is a happily married mother of five amazing kids from age 8-24 and soon to be a mother in law. (Which also makes her a chef, maid, tutor, chauffeur, launderer...) Susie's blog, New Day, New Lesson, is her attempt to help others and herself view the lessons life hands all of us in a positive light. She will also be the first to admit that blogging is great free therapy as well. Susie's hope for the world? Increasing kindness, tolerance and love.
You can also follow her Facebook page New Day, New Lesson where she posts her unique photos with quotes as well as gift ideas.
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by Ms. V. (South Korea) | Jan 30, 2012 | Life Lesson, Motherhood, South Korea, World Motherhood
Show me a mother who hasn’t been humbled by being a new parent, and I will show you a person in denial. Even those who refuse to admit how little they knew when they became a parent, I know, were humbled; they have merely misplaced the humility for the time being.
While very few of us love to admit being wrong, I am grateful that each time I realize I am wrong, misinformed, unaware, or clueless; I am usually learning it from my child. He is definitely the most patient and easiest-to-please teacher I’ve ever had.
How amazing is it that from the very beginning of the relationship the learning is reciprocal? Yet the things we teach our child – how to count, how to read and write, how to tie their shoes, while very useful skills, seem so inconsequential given what they teach us – humility, patience, the unending depths of unconditional love.
Each and every day we are like two babies, figuring out the world together. (more…)
Ms. V returned from a 3-year stint in Seoul, South Korea and is now living in the US in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with her partner, their two kids, three ferocious felines, and a dog named Avon Barksdale. She grew up all over the US, mostly along the east coast, but lived in New York City longer than anywhere else, so considers NYC “home.” Her love of travel has taken her all over the world and to all but four of the 50 states.
Ms. V is contemplative and sacred activist, exploring the intersection of yoga, new monasticism, feminism and social change. She is the co-director and co-founder of Samdhana-Karana Yoga: A Healing Arts Center, a non-profit yoga studio and the spiritual director for Hab Community. While not marveling at her beautiful children, she enjoys reading, cooking, and has dreams of one day sleeping again.
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by Purnima Ramakrishnan | Jan 27, 2012 | Childhood, Human Rights, Humanity, India, Motherhood, Parenting, Social Good, The Alchemist, World Moms Blog, World Motherhood, World Voice
Recently, we had a beautiful Saturday Sidebar question from our Sidebar editor Eva Fannon, titled, ‘I have a dream’. This is my longer answer to that question:
Martin Luther King spoke about the ghosts of racism. Here, in India, racism exists too – but a different kind of racism. It is called the caste system.
If you do not have a prior knowledge of the caste system, briefly it is like this – there is the concept of a higher (or forward or upper) caste of people comprising of Brahmins and such. The lower (or backward) caste comprises of Dalits and such. The lower castes were economically, educationally and socially underprivileged. And so the Indian government created laws, sixty years ago, which alloted a percentage of college seats and jobs for them so that their standard of living could improve. With that background, now you may read on…
Any Indian, who has been a victim of the caste system, could write volumes about it, but I will restrict myself to giving you just one link here for now to understand this better. It is called Reservation system based on caste. Someone unfamiliar with the caste system would be appalled reading just the first few lines of this wiki entry. But this general wiki link is the most muted version of the actual reality.
Reservations in educational institutions and government jobs for the so-called “underprivileged” do not happen the way they were intended to some sixty years ago, before Indian Independence. Uplifting the social and educational status of people should be the goal of such reservation systems, and it should be based on their financial and economic background rather than on the caste system.
Imagine, there is a law, which actually allows my own classmate–whose father could be my father’s colleague–to get admission into an engineering institution (more…)
by Kirsten Doyle (Canada) | Jan 26, 2012 | Canada, Life Balance, Me-Time, Motherhood, Running, Sleep, World Motherhood
Sunrise during one of my early-morning runs
Like most moms who work outside the home, my days tend to be very full, very busy, and fraught with the kind of anxiety that comes with wondering just how I will get everything done before I collapse into bed at night.
A while ago, when I was trying to figure out just why I never seem to have enough time for everything, I wrote down a timeline of my typical day.
It goes something like this:
6:00 Wake up; stumble semi-conscious to the coffee-machine which is programmed to have my coffee ready for me.
6:05 Check emails, see if anything exciting is happening on Facebook, wash up and put on makeup so I can pretend to be pretty.
6:30 Wake up my younger son, get him washed up and dressed, get myself dressed, pour coffee into my travel mug.
7:00 Take my son to his before-school program, then commute to the city centre by bus and subway.
8:30 Arrive at work. (more…)
Kirsten Doyle was born in South Africa. After completing university, she drifted for a while and finally washed up in Canada in 2000. She is Mom to two boys who have reached the stage of eating everything in sight (but still remaining skinny).
Kirsten was a computer programmer for a while before migrating into I.T. project management. Eventually she tossed in the corporate life entirely in order to be a self-employed writer and editor. She is now living her best life writing about mental health and addictions, and posting videos to two YouTube channels.
When Kirsten is not wrestling with her kids or writing up a storm, she can be seen on Toronto's streets putting many miles onto her running shoes. Every year, she runs a half-marathon to benefit children with autism, inspired by her older son who lives life on the autism spectrum.
Final piece of information: Kirsten is lucky enough to be married to the funniest guy in the world.
Connect with her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Be sure to check out her YouTube channels at My Gen X Life and Word Salad With Coffee!
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by Ecoziva (Brazil) | Jan 25, 2012 | Brazil, Food, Health, Motherhood, Nutrition, Parenting, World Motherhood
Image provided by the author.
Once, when our son was 2 ½ or so, we were having lunch at a “self-service” – a widespread type of restaurant here in Brazil where you serve yourself and pay according to how much your plate weighs. To this day I recall what was on his plate: the common Brazilian rice-and-beans duo, mashed potatoes, corn, a slice of pineapple, and an assortment of leaves and veggies.
Shortly after we started eating, a little girl sat down with her mother at the table to our right. They each had a dish with a large slice of chocolate pie covered with whipped cream. It didn’t take long for the girl – who seemed to be slightly younger than my son – to notice him and his colorful plate. (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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by Multitaskingmumma (Canada) | Jan 24, 2012 | Canada, Communication, Family, Husband, Kids, Motherhood, Parenting, World Moms Blog, World Motherhood
It's so hard not to give into that face!
I grew up in a very structured house with clear rules, expectations, and responsibilities. There were consequences for inappropriate behaviour, and we were well aware of them.
One parent was not more lenient than the other, they worked as a team.
At the time I thought they were unfair, overbearing, and awful. I felt like I had no freedom, had to plead every time I wanted responsibility, and was missing out on excitement.
Looking back, I can see that I was given a stable home, independence and the ability to learn from my mistakes.
Now that I have a child of my own, I am quickly learning that consistency, structure, and a united front is crucial in raising a child.
But it is difficult. (more…)
*Just a warning to those who find it hard to talk about death, this post uses the D word quite a bit. But the point it makes is really good food for thought.
