Chicago Moms Blog

Motrin-gate

.... cross posted from our sister site, 50-Something Moms Blog.

This past weekend, Motrin – a well trusted household brand came under the attack of one of the most talked about groups in the world of advertising and marketing today; the mom bloggers.

The odd thing about this story was that the catalyst was not a danger to children but instead the tone of an online ad. In trying to reach out and relate to young moms, it alienated them. It was initially viewed as condescending and insulting. The discussion surrounded baby wearing, the use of a carrier to hold your child. The concept is to keep the baby close to you while allowing you to use your hands. Simple, right? If only! The language was viewed as disrespectful and online hell broke loose.

A single 'voice' heard around the world prompted thousands of moms to unite and have their voices heard. Amazing? Sure, but what followed was not so pretty .

CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING ON 5o-Something Moms Blog.....

Joe the Pedophile wants to be your Facebook Friend

Cross posted from our sister site, 50-Something Moms Blog......

Oh, that of course isn't is screen name. He uses his real one. You can't tell he's a convicted pedophile by looking at him but his profile picture shows him at a basketball game proudly holding a well known cartoon character pillow and that makes me throw up in my mouth a little bit.

Yep, you'd never know this guy has a record by looking at him or even by knowing him casually. He is the dad of one of my kid's high school friends. He is able to be Facebook friends with her friends. He is also listed on the FBI National/State Sex Offender List.

"Joe" was married to one of my best friends. After they divorced he re-married a woman with a 14 year old daughter. The judge called his actions with her "Indecent liberty with a minor." He was banned from leaving the state for 5 years and banned from any activities or venues where children gather. That of course didn't stop him from slipping across the border into a different state to see his daughter's high school play and sit in the dark audience taking pictures of the cast of "Little Women."

Click HERE to continue reading on 50-Something Moms Blog.

The Content of Their Character: the March on Washington and Barack Obama

....cross posted from our sister site, 50-Something Moms Blog.

During our summer vacation, while I was in high school, I watched the broadcast of the 1963 March on Washington, which took place 45 years ago today.  As the day unfolded, much of my aspiration to be a member of the Lost Generation or a Greenwich Village beatnik gave way to a determination to become part of the “real world.”

The day was so seductive -- and it launched the next phase of my life.  I was transfixed.  Living in a little town on the Monongahela River outside Pittsburgh, I hadn’t paid much attention to the run-up to the march, so it was pretty astonishing.

As I watched, I knew that I belonged there - where there was purpose - in the middle of history.  It was a profound thing to listen to this man, to see the sea of people around him, watch the individual interviews, hear the music.  When people wonder how we became a generation of activists, I know that this was one of the moments that drove us forward, if we weren't there already.

How beautiful then that EXACTLY 45 years later, Barack Obama will accept the nomination of his party to be the Democratic candidate for President of the United States.  I heard Rep. John Lewis, so badly beaten in the 1965 march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, tell an interviewer that he wasn't sure he could make it through his own speech -- that if anyone had told him that 45 years after that Selma march he'd watch an African-American man accept the presidential nomination, he would have told them they were crazy.  Obama adviser and friend Valerie Jarrett, describing what it would mean to her parents in an interview with our own Erin Kotcki Vest, struggled to contain her own tears.  This is important.

And not just to African Americans.  Many people my age spent years working for civil rights while at home, in college, and out in the world.   Three civil rights workers our age, Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney, two white and one black, were murdered by racists in Mississippi. Dozens our age, white and black, were beaten, arrested and terrorized on Freedom Rides.  It seemed such a clear injustice; we had to  change it.

Now the Democratic Party will be headed by an African-American man who was a tiny child when John Lewis faced police beatings on that bridge.

Now a black presidential nominee and a white VP nominee can hug - and hug one another's wives, on a public platform and evoke no comment.  And there will be no comment because it's no big deal.  It brought me to tears though - because I can remember when it would have been a VERY big deal indeed.

Click HERE to continue reading on 50-Something Moms Blog......

Lessons I Have Learned About Kids and Computers

... cross posted from our sister site, 50-Something Moms Blog.

We bought our first computer after I started teaching. Apple made it easy for teachers to buy a Mac for their personal use. I would be able to get work done at home, and my children could use it for school assignments. This was a big deal! I still remember when it was delivered and how we worked to set it up, plug it in, and turn it on. We went over house rules for computer use, which included first getting permission from mom or dad, and things sailed along smoothly for a few weeks. Then, without warning, the computer stopped making sounds. It didn't make so much as a "blip" or a "ding" and we could not figure out why. I finally called tech support, when tech support meant a person answered the phone and was able to help you. I explained the whole story and followed their directions to check everything that could be checked. The verdict was that someone had removed the computer's capability to make sounds, and the solution was to re-install the computer's operating system. Strategic questioning and good mommy detective work led to the conclusion that our youngest had single-handedly removed all sound from the computer. He was six years old.

Lesson #1: Despite all the precautions taken, stuff happens.

Click HERE to continue reading at 50-Something Moms Blog.

Trust no one?

... cross posted from our sister site, 50-Something Moms Blog.

The young man ringing our doorbell looked clean-cut and harmless enough. Opening the door, I assumed he was one of my son's friends and greeted him with a smile.

“I’m selling magazine subscriptions to help pay for my college tuition,” he began, racing through his spiel and waving a laminated brochure in my face. “Your neighbor Michael told me to stop by. I grew up in this neighborhood,” he added, motioning toward another street, which he named correctly. This kid had done his homework. We do have a neighbor named Michael -- but our Michael would never tell a solicitor to drop by and pitch magazine subscriptions. Smelling a scam, I said no and quickly shut the door.

Click HERE to continue reading at 50-Something Moms Blog.

Sam Lamott

... cross posted from our sister site, 50-Something Moms Blog.

Lately I've been thinking about Sam Lamott, the son of best-selling author Anne Lamott. I don't know of many women who haven't read Anne's Traveling Mercies, her collection of essays on her sobriety and conversion to Christianity. And for many moms in my age group, Anne's classic Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year, was their introduction to a whole new literary genre: the tell-all "momoir."

Sam (who's now 18) is often the lead character in Anne's writings. We've all watched Sam grow up on the page, from his first messy diaper to brutal arguments over his driving privileges. And legions of us are very grateful to Anne for so boldly admitting that motherhood can be an insanely difficult career choice.

Click HERE to continue reading at 50-Something Moms Blog.

Sex Ed with Visual Aids

... cross posted from our sister site, 50-Something Moms Blog.

I am not a grandmother yet, though many of my friends are. And that's okay with me. After the last grandbaby announcement, though, I began to wonder if my situation is due to something I said, or if my children have developed an aversion to cucumbers....

As soon as my children began to talk, I made it clear that no question was off limits. I honestly do not remember when we first talked about where babies come from: my daughter was two when my first son was born and I remember an on-going interest in what was going on with mom's belly; my second son was born six years later, and my oldest two had lots of questions about that. I treated love and sex like regular topics of conversation...until my daughter was ready to start high school. Then I knew I needed to kick it up a notch because we were entering the big leagues. High school was a whole new ball game. I decided visual aids were needed.

Click Here to continue reading on 50-Something Moms Blog.

Middle School Boys

....cross posted from our sister site, 50-Something Moms Blog.

To celebrate the end of school, I told my son he could have some buddies over (they are in the 13 year old range)   You know, “hang-out” (that’s what boys call it – girls call it something else)  I ended up with 5 of them for the better part of a day.   

My daughter (15) and I enjoyed a quiet lunch on University, followed by a trip to Fraiche (really great homemade yogurt) while the boys were on their own.  She said, “I want to ride with you to pick them up so I can hear what that talk about.” – she’s old enough now to be an “observer” of her brother’s behavior.

Click HERE to continue reading on 50-Something Moms Blog.......

The new kid on the blog block: 50-Something Moms Blog

We are thrilled to announce the launch of our newest sister-site, the 50-something Moms Blog. 

The 50-something Moms Blog is a collaborative group of mothers around the country, dealing with hot flashes and hot lunches, perimenopause and puberty, saving for retirement and paying for college. They've really got it all, even if they're not sure this is the all they really wanted. Meet the fabulous women behind the 50-something Moms Blog, sign up for their RSS Feed and come back day to day to follow the ups and downs of this wild decade!

The 50-something Mom's blog is the sixth sister-site to join the Silicon Valley Moms Group LLC.  Other Moms Group sites include Silicon Valley Moms Blog (launched March 2006), Chicago Moms Blog (launched April 2007), DC Metro Moms Blog, (launched September 2007) and New York City Moms Blog (launched December 2007) New Jersey Moms Blog (launched in April 2008) .