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Halloween Photo Contest

the mom-team — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 21:24:15 +0000

Enter your favorite photos of your kids’ Halloween costumes to show off your spooky cutie, and maybe even win a prize.

The top 10 photos with the most votes will get $100 worth of Mamasource credit.

The earlier you join, the more time you have to get votes. Good luck!

Get all the details at:

http://deals.mamapedia.com/cmp/halloween-photo-contest?fb_login=true

Why Shouldn’t I Spank My Child?

the mom-team — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 15:53:53 +0000

Abuse Survivor Offers Tips For Alternative Punishments

By Ginny Grimsley

Esther Joseph doesn’t need to read studies or statistics to understand the problems of child abuse. She survived it.

Joseph, an advocate against corporal punishment in the home, spent her childhood alternately suffering physical abuse from her mother and emotional abuse from her father. But she doesn’t consider herself a victim.

“I’m a survivor of child abuse,” said Joseph, author of Memories of Hell, Visions of Heaven—A Story of Survival Transformation and Hope (www.unityinherited.com). “In overcoming the damage of an upbringing riddled with violence, I was adamant that I would not grow up to be an abuser, as well. I know the dangers of striking a child to discipline them and then explaining that you’re doing it for their own good and because you love them. All that does is teach the child that violence is an acceptable part of love, and as they grow up, they accept violence in their adult relationships because they’ve been taught that it’s completely normal.”

Joseph believes that discipline is important, but that it can be delivered without making violence an acceptable part of life.

“No matter how out of control a child may be considered, a beating is never an effective way to get their attention, obedience or respect,” she added. “Parents must understand that there are other disciplinary measures, less violent and degrading methods that will garner the results they seek, while raising children to become emotional health and fulfilled adults.”

Joseph offered a few simple tips for alternative means of helping children behave. They include:

Be a Good Example – Parents must live by example, allowing their actions and not just their words to exemplify the kind of person they would like their child to become.

Be One Step Ahead – Don’t wait until your child has done something “wrong” to have a talk with them. Parents can circumvent many foreseeable challenges by addressing them before they become an issue.

Be Creative – One type of punishment does not work for every child. Parents must figure out and utilize a form of reprimand that would work best for their child’s particular temperament.

“Every spanking, no matter how mild, has an impact,” Joseph said. “Parents should be aware that a spanked child becomes a emotionally crippled adult who goes out into the world and plays this handicap onto others, perpetuating the idea that abusive relationships are just a normal part of life. Now, I understand that people justify it by thinking, ‘I was spanked as a child and I turned out okay,’ but that equation doesn’t work for everyone. When we begin to justify violence as a part of our children’s lives, it becomes a slippery slope when we try to determine how much is too much? A spanking every once in a while? Using a belt or a hairbrush instead of a hand if a child is really misbehaving? At what point do you say it’s too much? The bottom line is that once is too much, because it makes a second, third and 20^th time that much easier to rationalize. But for those who have been abused, no matter their pasts, it does not define them nor does it determine their future. Everyone can break the bonds of their past experiences and find their way to the life and future they crave.”

About Esther Joseph

Esther Joseph was born and raised on the tiny Caribbean island of Saint Lucia. She moved to the U.S. at the age of 16 with her mother and two older bothers. She holds a Master’s Degree in international affairs from New York University. Her goal is to help others still in the grips of abuse and violence to break the cycle and find a way to a place of healing.

For more information contact:

Ginny Grimsley
National Print Campaign Manager
News and Experts
1127 Grove Street · Clearwater, Florida 33755
Phone: 727-443-7115 EXT 207
www.newsandexperts.com

It’s Time to Get the Kids Ready for Back to School

the mom-team — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 16:27:41 +0000

Mom-stuff Updates

It’s time to get those kids ready for school.

Time for Back to School Shopping
Here is your mission if you choose to accept it. GET THE MOST FROM YOUR SCHOOL CLOTHES BUDGET. . . . keep reading

8 Great Tips To Organize Kids’ Rooms
It’s the battle cry of millions of parents: “Clean your room!” As you get ready for back to school it is a great opportunity to organize your child’s bedroom. Seasonal events like birthdays, the holidays or a new school year bring fresh impetus to the drive to get kids organized–and nowhere is the battleground more intense than in the children’s bedrooms. . . . keep reading

Back to School Artwork Books
Our Back to School idea this month is focused on saving all of our kid’s artwork that comes home from school. When my daughter started in an early education program, every week the school would send home her artwork from her lessons. She was so proud of her work that she wanted to keep it. . . . keep reading

Make Your Own Hair Bows
Make Hair bows to match your kids back to school clothes. . . . keep reading

Check out Chock a Baby

the mom-team — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 19:37:56 +0000

Today I want to share a new web site with you. Check out Carrie’s site and tell me what you think.

Chockababy: a community of gushing parents and grandparents, friends, neighbors, and families. Here is your family’s new online home. I received this email this morning.

Hi Dianne!

Thanks for your contributions to moms and our need for support from each other! I am emailing you today to see if you would want to share a new website with your readers. My name is Carrie. My sister, Nicky, and I started an online, sharable baby book called chockababy.com We are two sisters who are moms (mine are 4 and 1, Nicky has 2 year old twin boys). We didn’t love the options we had for tracking our babies’ milestones and sharing updates with our families. So in the midst of motherhood and part-time jobs, we have started Chockababy (pronounced Cha-kuh-baby). We think your readers would appreciate the features of this site and the user-friendliness for super-busy moms.

Here are a few highlights:

1. Tracks your child’s growth from pregnancy through preschool age.

2. Record your child’s milestones.

3. Share your child’s updates with close friends and family.

4. Enjoy a really cool ticker on every kid’s page.

Nicky and I are especially proud of Chockababy’s commitment to privacy – users can know that only those they invite through email will have access to their Chockababy book! The social networking aspects of Chockababy are focused on only those who you really want to see updates on your family – instead of everyone you’ve ever met since elementary school

I could talk about it this forever but I think I’d rather have you check it out - chockababy.com! Set up an account if you want – and if you like it – please spread the word to your readers. We are proud of this site!

You can find lots more about us and the site at chockababy.com.

Thanks for the great service you offer moms!

Best,

Carrie

Declutter From Scratch

the mom-team — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 21:25:09 +0000

I am a big fan of Mini’s book Declutter Fast and her great emails. If you have not heard of her before please check her out. You will be glad you did. Make sure you sign up fro her email. She gives such great information in her emails. I love to receive them. I am sharing with you one of her strategies that really works for me. I live where this time of the year we are cooped up inside, because it is sooooooooooooo hot. So this is when I deep clean my house and do home repairs. I follow Mini’s, Declutter from Scratch plan, one room at a time. There are days when I can’t use my garage but it is total worth it. This may seem like a lot of work but I think that is why it works for me. When the room is empty I clean it thoroughly, I do all repairs that are needed. When it is time to put things back I only want to move back in the things I really want.

Declutter From Scratch from Mini Tanner

A great way to declutter is to take each room – or an entire home – and start from scratch.

This is a way that works for me, that I have put into practice numerous times. It’s one of my favorite ways to declutter.

This way works very well when you’re moving from one place to another. But it can also work when you’re not moving.

When you’re moving, start from scratch at your new place. At the place you’re moving to, have absolutely nothing there but the basics.

If you’re not moving to a new home, then you can still start from scratch. Here’s how:

1. Accomplish this room by room

2. Use a garage or even rent a storage space to take the clutter away from your house, and start from scratch with a totally decluttered house that way.

I know that may sound extreme to some, but I have done this myself, and it definitely helps. When the clutter is somewhere else, your immediate space is clear.

Here’s what to do:

Take everything out of a room that is not absolutely needed and wanted in that room.

Then take a second look at some furniture or other items that perhaps you would be happier and less burdened if these things were not staring you in the face year after year.

What can you let go of, give away, or at least store somewhere else, to open up this room?

After you start from scratch, here’s the key to making this work:

Don’t allow anything back into this room that you don’t want there. Attack any clutter immediately.

It’s much easier to do this with a room that is uncluttered in the first place. That’s the reason for starting from scratch.

When moving to a new place, you can easily do this to an entire home. Your things are in boxes, and they can stay in boxes and stored away while you deal with each box one by one, decluttering as you go.

When you have a clear and spare and beautiful room, then you get to feel the wonderful reverberation of having no clutter.

There’s something about an uncluttered room that takes on an energy that is absolutely invigorating. It creates so many good feelings, and it increases one’s energy. It inspires us to continue the quest to declutter and stay decluttered. Every effort we make adds up. Here’s to order in our lives!

With love,

Mimi Tanner

Author of Declutter Fast – How to Get Your Home In Order Almost Immediately!

http://www.declutterfast.com

Do You have Bad Hair Days at Your House?

the mom-team — Wed, 18 May 2011 21:45:05 +0000

Help is on the way!!!

Mom-Stuff wants to congratulate Amber, one of our moms, on a great blog. The Wright Hair has been honored in the 50 Top Hair blogs and Articles.

The Wright Hair has the number 6 spot, and it reads;

6. The Wright Hair This mom shares her tips and ideas for styling your little ones’ hair without putting her through pain. One daughter has thin, flat hair, making this a great blog for those who struggle with a similar texture.”

Amber appreciates this recognition and is happy to help others. That is why she has her blog.

Be sure to click on the link and see the other top hair blogs that have also been honored.

Visit Amber at the Wright Hair Blog http://thewrighthair.blogspot.com/ and get helpful hair tips from her article for mom-stuff, Hair Remedies from The Wright Hair blog!

SOME OF HER POPULAR POSTS

Make it or Break it Lauren’s Latest Style

Lauren’s Hairstyles are so cute and so much fun to recreate. So here goes another one. Because my daughter has a lot of hair but it is t…

Inspired by Lady Gaga

I started by making a poof in the front of her hair. (We did this because she is still trying to grow out her bangs) Make a french braid fr…

French Braid Headband to Ponytail

This is simple and cute taken from a spin off of Lauren’s Hair from Make it or break it. I made a french braid across the entire front of h..

Our Finger Sucking Journey

the mom-team — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 22:49:42 +0000

To start our journey of finger sucking I am going to start from the very beginning. When our oldest daughter was born my husband decided NO binkies were allowed. I didn’t question this decision he has a son and I figured he knew something I didn’t. At 4 months old on the very same day I pierced my daughters ears she started sucking her 2 middle fingers. At the time this was cute, adorable even. This habit was her way of soothing herself.

As with any kids or at least from my experience I didn’t think too much of her habit. At the age of 4 I started worrying that she was a little old to still have this terrible habit. I asked her pediatrician about the habit. Her pediatrician didn’t seem to think it was a problem and kept telling me that because it was her fingers and not her thumb there wouldn’t be any damage to her mouth. She also told me that when she started school she would stop on her own. As she started attending school the finger sucking did not stop, we worried about her getting teased or criticized. I personally was criticized by other mom’s because I have allowed it to continue. If only it was that easy! Those of you reading this I am sure know what I am talking about.

She is 7 now, our goal for this year was to get her to stop by her 8th birthday. This winter was when the straw broke the camels back. It has been a bad winter with lots of colds, flu’s and allergies. We had the same flu circle our house for about 4 weeks. That is when I put my foot down. I don’t know if this is what really happened but it seemed like she was sharing this flu around because of the bacteria she was spreading from her fingers.

We have tried ever trick we could find such as making her wear a glove, fingernail polish, rewarding her, reminding her that her hand is in her mouth, putting a splint on her finger. We tried taping her 2 fingers together. We even tried getting frustrated with her. I was on the verge of asking a doctor to put a cast on her hand.

Everyone of these methods was a Big Failure
Being at the end of my rope with how to help I asked a different pediatrician (he recommended the Nasty polish) and I also got on the Internet to search any other options we hadn’t tried. The NASTY fingernail polish (mivala) was the only thing we haven’t tried. I started reading the reviews and was getting the feeling in your stomach of nervousness to use this. I was feeling like it was abuse. To me it was like putting her hand in poop. With that uneasy feeling I got creative and wondered if putting fake fingernails on her hands would work. I went to a salon and they said they wouldn’t put acrylic fingernails on her they said she was too young. Dang it another idea gone. Then I thought what about the fingernails you put on yourself. I took her to the store and let her pick out the style of nails she wanted. I figured if I made it look fun they we might be successful. She had so much fun picking out her nails and then spending the time to put them on. We went home and put the nails on.

**Note** The first nails we bought were press on nails. We bought the nail glue as well but let me tell you from trial and error. Don’t put nail glue over the top of the press on nail glue. If you can only find small enough nails in press on use alcohol to get the glue off first. I did however find petite nails at Target these work perfectly for my daughter they were even short so they looked like real nails.

As an update we put the fake nails on March 20, 2011 and here it is March 30, 2011 and she has not sucked her fingers since I put them on.

I will be honest the first night was the most difficult and heartbreaking. She went into anxiety and kept asking me how am I going to get to sleep. Night was always the worst for her finger sucking. I suggested for her to rub her ear since that was also a smoother with her fingers. I also asked if she could think of anything else that would help. For a last resort we had a baby doll’s binkie, she put this in her mouth but I think it was more of a joke. The next morning I praised her she had successfully made it the first night.

On a better note; I asked her at about 5 days in what she was doing at night to help her sleep. She answered with the sweetest voice, “I prayed for help to be able to sleep.” She melted my heart. I will continue to keep everyone updated on our success as we journey on…..by Amber a mom-stuff mom

International Women’s Day

the mom-team — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 19:01:40 +0000

Today is the day!!! It’s the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day and The WIN is hosting the largest gathering of women in the history of the world to celebrate this day!

You can JOIN US ONLINE and watch the entire event live-streaming from Los Angeles, CA… for no cost at all!

Watch Deidre Hall (Days of Our Lives) Paula Fellingham (WIN Founder and CEO) Lisa Nichols (The Secret) Lauren Chapin (Father Knows Best) Tamilee Webb (Buns of Steel) and other experts…

Join mom-stuff.com by simply logging onto www.InternationalWomensDay.org and ENJOY!!!

The New Facebook Privacy Setting Called “Instant Personalization”

the mom-team — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 23:59:31 +0000

It has always been mom-stuff.com policy to keep you, my friends informed. Read this email I recieved from a friend of mine and tell me what you think. I enough people change their settings Facebook will get the message that we don’t want them to do this.

I must have upset the powers that be in Facebook as it seems they
have banned access to my post titled:

“Facebook Is Going To Take Your Likes And Comments
And Turn Them Into Ads – Opportunity or Abuse?”

Hmmm I wonder why…

Anyway, here is the shortened version for you
I will not be silenced.

The new Facebook privacy setting called “Instant Personalization”
is being rolled out.

AKA Facebook will be sharing your personal information with
external websites …

It’s a marketers paradise but this might make you angry …

The new setting shares your data with non-Facebook sites and
it’s automatically set to “Enabled”.

If you want to stop your personal info being shared with the Universe:

Go to Account >

Privacy Settings >

Apps & Websites >

Instant Personalization >

Edit settings and uncheck “Enable instant personalisation on partner websites”

Warning – If your friends don’t do this, they will be sharing info about you as well,
so make sure you forward this on to everyone you know and care about.

Warmly

Robert, Robert Grant (Crowd Conversion) [CrowdConversion@gmail.com]

( Robert and I think Facebook have gone too far this time. How about you?)

How to Help Clean Your Dishes

the mom-team — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 14:15:28 +0000

A few months ago a new law went into effect that banned phosphates from dishwashing detergent in 17 states, is your state one of them?. It may help the environment, but it’s making it harder to get clean dishes for your family. Who wants a product that makes your life harder?

“For the last month and a half my dishes just weren’t getting clean,” Lorinda Loveridge said.

When her dishes came out with a film on them, Loveridge’s initial thought was that her dishwasher needed to be replaced.

“I think anybody would, for those of us who didn’t know what was going on, especially if you didn’t switch detergent,” she said. “What else would you think it was?”

Marilyn Albertson, with the Utah State University Cooperative Extension Office, frequently gets calls from consumers wanting to know why their dishes are suddenly so dirty.

“It has changed the way people do dishes, and it has caused frustration out there,” Albertson said. Us moms do not need any more frustrations.

After she explains that phosphates have been removed from the dishwasher detergent, Albertson asks the person if he or she has a water softener.

“Hard water makes it much more difficult to clean the dishes than soft water,” she explained.

Albertson recommends a commercial rinse aid. Other home remedies include adding one-half to 1 teaspoon of baking soda, or you can try 1 teaspoon of white vinegar. If you still have trouble, Albertson has another recommendation.

“You can make a mix of a tablespoon of baking soda and a tablespoon of borax and put that in your detergent cup and then wash,” she said.

Daisy Hodges has had good luck since she started adding vinegar at the beginning of the wash cycle.

“It swishes for about 30 seconds, and then I just dump some vinegar in,” Hodges explained.

Now her dishes are coming out about as clean as they were with the old detergent.

“It’s working good, except when I forget,” she said. “Sometimes I forget, but it works good.”

There doesn’t seem to be a one-size-fits-all remedy. Albertson says you’ll really just have to experiment to see what works for you.

Mom-Stuff.com wants to help make your life easier. Article posted at http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=14228628