The Super Bowl, an American Football Championship took place last night in Phoenix, AZ in the USA. The NFL, the organization that controls the league, has been under attack for their disappointing responses when it comes to violence against women and their players. Even further, if you tuned into part one of “A Path Appears” last week you may have seen the part when journalist Nick Kristof took viewers on a Super Bowl sting, where they caught over 70 “Johns” who were soliciting sex from women around the big game in a set-up. The three-part series is covering important topics such as human trafficking, early childhood intervention and the importance of educating girls around the globe.
Tonight, February 2nd, 2015, the 2nd part of the television series based on the book by Nick Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn appears on PBS at 10pm EST (check local listings — it may be different where you live).
Part two focuses on the latest research that points to the importance of early child intervention in children, especially those under two years old. In order to get to children in poverty, effective programs must create a relationship with their mothers and teach them how to be nurturing parents. And books! These programs are geared to teach the parents the importance of reading to their children, or of just making up stories to the pictures. This type of intervention helps create children who are excited about school and feel secure later on.
“If you suffer trauma as a child, it changes the way your brain grows. If you have the stress of extreme poverty, the stress of abuse, that changes the actual way that your brain grows and develops.” — Jennifer Garner, actress
In order to reach the mothers, nurses or influential people in the local communities must be empowered to support local mothers by demonstrating nurturing parenting skills and sharing age appropriate books. Regular check-ins help moms stay on track and ask questions. These types of programs help to break the poverty cycle and give children a better chance in school.
The problem? The programs are underfunded.
What You Can Do to Help Break the Poverty Cycle for Children
Save the Children has, in fact, piloted these programs with success. And the organization has made it possible for the sponsorship of individual children requiring early intervention in the United States. $30 or more a month will help assure that a child and mother will get the support they need to help beat the odds of poverty and break parenting cycles that may be more harmful than helpful to a child’s future.
Watch the trailer to tonight’s show here!:
As I continue to read the book, “A Path Appears”, (which I received at the Americares Airlift and at the AYA Summit) and watch the three-part television series, I’m learning that there are solutions to ending trafficking, to breaking poverty cycles. And the more people who trample on the same direction in the grass towards solutions, the paths begin to appear. Join us live on twitter tonight with hashtag #APathAppears.
Tune in on PBS in the USA at 10pm EST tonight, February 2, 2015, for part 3 of the series.
Additional information:
Miss Part I? Depending on your geographic area, you may be able to watch the first part of the series online here: http://video.pbs.org/video/2365387809/.
World Moms Blog attended the premier of A Path Appears in January in NYC. Read all about it!
To sponsor a child’s early education in the US or abroad head over to Save the Children!
This is an original post to World Moms Blog by founder, Jennifer Burden of New Jersey, USA.
Photo credits to A Path Appears.
Disclosure: World Moms Blog was invited to the premier of A Path Appears in NYC by Save the Children. Author received copies of the book, “A Path Appears”, from the non profit organizations, Americares and ONE.org.
Jennifer Burden is the Founder and CEO of World Moms Network, an award winning website on global motherhood, culture, human rights and social good. World Moms Network writes from over 30 countries, has over 70 contributors and was listed by Forbes as one of the “Best 100 Websites for Women”, named a “must read” by The New York Times, and was recommended by The Times of India.
She was also invited to Uganda to view UNICEF’s family health programs with Shot@Life and was previously named a “Global Influencer Fellow” and “Social Media Fellow” by the UN Foundation. Jennifer was invited to the White House twice, including as a nominated "Changemaker" for the State of the World Women Summit. She also participated in the One Campaign’s first AYA Summit on the topic of women and girl empowerment and organized and spoke on an international panel at the World Bank in Washington, DC on the importance of a universal education for all girls. Her writing has been featured by Baby Center, Huffington Post, ONE.org, the UN Foundation’s Shot@Life, and The Gates Foundation’s “Impatient Optimists.” She is currently a candidate in Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs in the Executive Masters of Public Affairs program, where she hopes to further her study of global policies affecting women and girls.
Jennifer can be found on Twitter @JenniferBurden.
We live in New York City, in one of the busiest areas, mid-town Manhattan and there are many benefits to living in the city. The kids go, regularly, to museums. I walk 10 minutes to get to and from work. When the kids were babies, I was able to walk home and nurse them at lunch time, or we would meet in the park across the street if the weather was nice. I have a doorman who can accept any deliveries when I am not home. I can shop for my groceries on-line and schedule a delivery whenever I need to. On days where I am working late, I have hundreds of restaurants literally at my finger tips and can order any cuisine to be delivered.
There are also many cons to living in the city. We, the 4 of us, live in a 2 bedroom apartment, approximately 1100 square feet (102.2 square meters). I know in other countries this may seem like a rather large apartment, in fact, my cousin in France lives in smaller apartment than us with 2 boys. But in the US, where everything is bigger, such as the furniture, serving portions and cars, it feels small. Especially when I look at the house that I could buy, for the same price, in the suburbs. We don’t have much space for storage, which is probably not such a bad thing, since it gets me to purge lots of unused items.
The biggest downfall though, in regards to my children, is the lack of outdoor space. Sure, there are quite a few parks and playgrounds within walking distance, as well as the beautiful Central Park, which is either a short cab/bus ride away (or a long walk on a nice day). However, there is no backyard where the kids can play and run while I prepare dinner, or while I clean. So instead, I pop in a movie or turn on some favorite cartoons for the kids to watch while I do those things.
I have some ground rules set regarding TV watching: basically, no TV before 6 pm, and it is off when we start dinner. In the morning, they can watch something while I prepare breakfast, and on school days it’s off at 8am (on weekends, I allow it a little longer while we clean). The only exception to these rules are when there is a sporting event that my husband wants to watch during the weekend day, or if they are really too sick to do much else. (more…)
Maman Aya is a full-time working mother of 2 beautiful children, a son who is 6 and a daughter who is two. She is raising her children in the high-pressure city of New York within a bilingual and multi-religious home.
Aya was born in Canada to a French mother who then swiftly whisked her away to NYC, where she grew up and spent most of her life. She was raised following Jewish traditions and married an Irish Catholic American who doesn’t speak any other language (which did not go over too well with her mother), but who is learning French through his children. Aya enjoys her job but feels “mommy guilt” while at work. She is lucky to have the flexibility to work from home on Thursdays and recently decided to change her schedule to have “mommy Fridays”, but still feels torn about her time away from her babies. Maman Aya is not a writer by any stretch of the imagination, but has been drawn in by the mothers who write for World Moms Blog. She looks forward to joining the team and trying her hand at writing!
I either love it, as in addicted and couch potato like. Or I hate it, as in I want to throw the TV out of the window and never bring one back into my house. Unfortunately, my husband is addicted to his sports teams so a television free household is not even a remote possibility. Hubby is staying, so the TV is staying too.
I have to admit, at times, television does have its attraction.
Not only is it a free babysitter (well not really if you have cable TV) but it is entertainment that requires no energy or input from you. You sit there passively and just watch. You don’t really have to do anything, except for occasionally laughing or crying.
For many, television is a way to unwind and forget about the stresses of your day. I know because I too am often guilty of vegging out in front of the TV and wasting (unwinding) for hours upon hours. (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.
We live in a world of iPads, flat screen televisions, smartphones, GPS navigation systems, electric cars, the Internet.
Our children are growing up in the fast-moving digital age.
Our children are growing up watching television, loving shows like Barney, Sesame Street, Baby Einstein, Dora the Explorer, Spongebob Squarepants and many more. They’re growing up learning the alphabet with Elmo using the iPad. They’re growing up learning to use a smartphone before they can even talk.
There is much dialogue about the extent of technology our children are immersed in, whether voluntarily, as permitted by their parents, or involuntarily, where they’re surrounded by these things when they go to school, to a mall, or even, their friends’ homes. (more…)
Alison is a former PR professional turned stay-at-home mother to two boys. Growing up in a small city of Ipoh, Malaysia, Alison left home at 17 to pursue her studies in the big city of Kuala Lumpur. At 19, she headed to University of Leeds in England and graduated with a degree in Communications. Returning home to Malaysia in 1999, she began a 10-year career in public relations, event planning, and marketing, working for various PR agencies and one of the world's biggest sports brands. After a decade of launch parties and product launches, concerts and award shows, international press junkets and world travel, Alison traded all that in for a life as a first time mother in 2009, and has not looked back since. Aside from writing for her blog, Writing, Wishing, Alison is the Founder and chief social media strategist for Little Love Media.
This week’s question came from one of our writers, Dee Harlow, who asked…
“What, if any, TV or video programming did you first introduce to your child(ren) and how old were they?”
Here are what some of our World Moms had to say…
Allison Charleston of New York, USA writes:
“Sesame Street when Chase was 13 months old – well really just the last 20 minutes of Sesame Street . . .Elmo’s World.”
Maggie Ellison of South Carolina, USA writes:
“We started watching, well actually listening to, Baby Neptune and Baby Galileo when my son was a baby. The music was so relaxing it just helped set a peaceful environment.” (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.
