All Blog Posts

08/07/07

When we became parents, I discovered and adopted a few very helpful perspectives: 1. Change is constant. There's always something new to learn or adjust to. True, I'll never again be a novice at changing a poopy diaper in a public place or figuring out the top ten uses for My Brest Friend. But as this baby grows, she changes, and my parenting techniques have to change with her. What worked yesterday to soothe, entertain or distract her might not work today. Remembering this keeps me on my toes instead of feeling constantly inadequate!

MomsRising Together

Anita Sarah Jackson

07/09/07

Think you're getting shut out of prime work assignments because you have to do school pick-up? Have a feeling the "boys" are getting more parenting-credit at the office for going to a soccer game than you are for pediatrician's appointments? If so, you may be able to hold your bosses legally accountable. There's been increased attention in recent months to the so-called "opt-out" phenomenon -- professional working women supposedly abandoning the workforce in droves for full-time mommydom.

MomsRising Together

Joanne Bamberger

06/18/07

It's bad enough that we live in a country where working mothers have to worry about losing their jobs if they take time off to tend to a sick or injured child. Now, children are worrying about whether they should confide feeling ill with their parents because some have seen their mothers get fired for staying home to care for them. Author Ellen Bravo writes on The Nation's website about the impact this phenomenon is having on the children of working mothers.

MomsRising Together

Joanne Bamberger

06/14/07

I will fly from California to Tennessee this weekend to eat Father's Day dinner with my Dad. But I don't expect the meal to be very satisfying. For one thing, we will be eating whatever we eat in a hospital room. My father has emphysema and stage 3 lung cancer. He was responding well to chemo, but then he developed pneumonia. He has been hospitalized for more than a month, with his health worsening rather than improving. In the hospital, he developed a major blockage in his intestine; now he is battling this digestive tract malady, on top of everything else.

MomsRising Together

Van Jones

06/13/07

This week I learned about BlogHers Act from two MomsRising volunteers . BLOGHERS ACT is a year-long initiative by BlogHer.org (an association of 11,000+ women bloggers) to harness the incredible power of women online. This group intends to take on two initiatives: 1. Making a difference on a single global cause; and 2. Identifying the top four issues that women online want the U.S. Presidential candidates to address in order to win our votes in the ‘08 Election. The Announcement: http://blogher.org/node/20441

MomsRising Together

Joan Blades

06/13/07

My younger daughter is graduating high school, and my older daughter just graduated from Penn State, so this fathers’ day is a good time to reflect on past successes… and failures. So here’s some advice for young men contemplating fatherhood today: Marry well . Find someone you can talk to about almost anything; you’re going to spend a lot of time talking after children arrive... And find someone who isn’t planning to stay at home for 20 years raising kids. Sure, there are great parents who pull off the breadmaker/homemaker stuff, and I know and admire them. But most involved dads have partners who have a job or a career; it gives us more time with the kids, and more say in decisions about the kds.

MomsRising Together

Robert Drago

06/13/07

With Father’s Day just around the corner, I’m excited to see the new FamiliesRising Web site get started. While co-producing THE MOTHERHOOD MANIFESTO film, my only disappointment was the number of men I met who didn’t see how these issues applied to them. As the father of a 13 year old, I know just how important it will be to entire American families to win the kinds of things that MomsRising has been working so hard for.

MomsRising Together

John de Graaf

06/13/07

I'm a busy guy. I work full time, have kids to raise, dogs to train, a house to maintain, vehicles to keep going, and a dozen hobbies from my younger days that get dusted off a couple of times a year. My wife and I do our best to help each other keep our household running and still strive to periodically enjoy each other's company in a context beyond toiling side-by-side on a never ending task list. This isn't a complaint - I like keeping busy - rather it's an explanation as to why I usually shy away from taking on additional commitments.

MomsRising Together

OneDadRising

06/13/07

Since my wife Genevieve and I had twins, Sam and Hazel, on Election Day of 2004 I’ve become increasingly aware of just how out of whack our nations priorities have become. There seems to be no end in sight to the resources we will squander in Iraq. While here in the American Homeland we can’t seem to get it together to provide basic Healthcare for every child. America’s mothers are working two jobs (beyond the full time role of caregiver inside the home) just to make ends meet.

MomsRising Together

John Sellers

06/13/07

“Grampsy, you know, you’re not like a normal grandfather,” seven year-old Jesse exclaimed during my most recent visit with her and her sister in a New York suburb. Although I’m now back at home in the greater DC area, I’m still smiling as I think about her comment, made while we were jumping together on the backyard trampoline. As we bounced I asked her what she meant by “normal.” “Well, Grampsy,” she said, “Normal grandfathers don’t go on trampolines with their grandchildren.” I responded, “Maybe we need to rethink what being a ‘normal grandfather’ means.” This led to a brief and interesting discussion, intermittently punctuated by my inability to picture my own grandfather without a tie around his neck. He died in 1962, a time when the role of grandfather was a lot more formal.

MomsRising Together

allan shedlin