crazedparent

CP out...

No additional posts today so I can finish a story for the SF Chronicle.

Crazedparent over and out.

From Russia with love...

I think Steve Brewer over at Scripps-Howard News Service is on to something.

Yesterday he wrote that when his wife visited the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC, she got him a postcard with the Moscow Rules on it. The rules, he believes, can easily be applied to parenting.

The crazedparent favorite? Here you go:

6. Vary your pattern. Stay within your cover.

Act like a parent, sticking to the cover story that you're a responsible adult. But toss out a little surprise once in a while to keep the kids on their toes. Something like, "Coldplay's OK, but I prefer the Foo Fighters."

Check out his column for the deets. Maybe you can put them into practice.

Side note: Spy Museum? Gotta check that out when you're in DC.

Mommycast...

Podcasting mamas they are. Check out Paige and Gretchen at Mommycast, a new weekly Internet show for about moms by moms. So cool are they that the gals were interviewed by NBC News.

This comes via Jay Allen (also known as The Zero Boss) at Blogging Baby.

Maternity leave sucks...

No, not really. I love being on maternity leave. What sucks is how the US treats maternity leave and the folks in this AP story agree.

We have the U.S. Family and Medical Leave Act, which gives new moms 12 weeks of job-protected leave, but only for moms who work for larger companies.  In California, I am lucky enough to have six weeks of paid state disability. And thanks to a new law, I get an additional six weeks through the state's Paid Family Leave. And let's be clear, this is partial pay for both.

I'm grateful to be getting those checks coming in. But I couldn't imagine leaving my newest bambino in daycare when he's 12 weeks old. No way, no how. I tried it once with the Express and couldn't do it. I broke down in tears and worked with my employer to see how I could work from home until he was at least 10 months old.

At 12 weeks, you're just starting to really figure your little one out. And really starting to enjoy your time with baby. Ok, well many moms are enjoying time with baby. Others are eager to return to work and that's fine too.

But cross the pond and we're talking the maternity leave dream. Did you know new working moms in Sweden get 16 months of maternity leave with 80 percent pay. Yowzah!!! Now that's what I'm talkin' about!

Check out the story. It raises alot of questions about maternity leave, who should pay what, and looks at why the US is behind in giving working moms the time they deserve to spend with their newborns.

What do you think the US should do about maternity leave?

Think baby, think...

Having just gone through the exercise of picking out a baby name for The Mighty Q., I'm hip to websites that provide the necessary deets to make the decision. I wish I had known about Think! Baby Names as the crazedparent household negotiated naming rights.

Think! Baby Names provides all the basics...pronunciation, meaning, orgin, variants, and popularity. A cool add is the "notes" entry, which offers little tidbits of info on a name. Check out a sample with the crazedparent name "Charlene." You can also create a "favorites" list, something I did for both of my pregnancies.

My favorite feature, though, is the names in the news link. Always fun to see famous names.

Check it out.

Kids unplugged...

Does it seem hard to get your kids outside since they'd rather be playing with the X-Box, playstation, watching SpongeBob, chatting online...anything that requires stepping foot outside the house? Thank god for modern technology, right?

Perhaps your children are suffering from nature-deficit disorder...that's what journalist Richard Louv thinks might be the case.

In a story from The Olympian (Wash.), Louv talks this so-called "nature-deficit disorder" in kids. He's pushing his new book, "Last Child in the Woods," where he claims  children are suffering from attention problems and higher rates of mental and physical illness because they aren't exposed to direct nature.

The solution? Unlpug the kids.

He's no doc, but sounds interesting to me. Anything that gets kids outdoors and active instead of planted in front of the tube is good by me.

Dear Ben...

Ben Affleck's gonna be a papa. Old news, I know. But apparently he's a little nervous about it. Ben's been asking his mama for some tips on parenting. While story comes via Tonight from the National Enquirer, I think there could be some truth to it. I mean, who doesn't ask their mom for parenting tips?

Here's an easier solution...Ben should just ask friend Matt Damon to write a screenplay for him to follow so he can pretend to be "in character" as first-time pop?

Oh Ben, it'll be alright. You're already used to sleep deprivation after your all-nighters playing cards and partying with J-Lo back in the day. And let's face it, you're not the one who's going to be getting up in the middle of the night for baby.  That'll be saved for your new I'm-Not-Jenny-from-the-Block.

So just relax, Dear Ben. It'll all work out just fine.

Pesticide school...

A study hitting the July 27th issue of JAMA that says kids are exposed to a serious amount of pesticides while at school. The  study concludes:

"Pesticide exposure at schools produces acute illnesses among school employees and students. To prevent pesticide-related illnesses at schools, implementation of integrated pest management programs in schools, practices to reduce pesticide drift, and adoption of pesticide spray buffer zones around schools are recommended."

From HealthDay News:

"Far too many cases of acute pesticide poisoning occur among schoolchildren each year. These episodes are preventable," said Dr. Philip Landrigan, director of the Center for Children's Health and the Environment, and the department of Community and Preventive Medicine at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York City.

"Children are more susceptible to pesticide exposure because they breathe more air pound for pound than adults, they play on the floor, and they live about two feet off the floor, where pesticides linger, rather than five to six feet off the floor like adults," Landrigan added.

Yet another thing to be worried about when your kids are at school!  

Mommy dating uncovered...

So scandalous.

The first date, you scope each other out. Do we have similarities? Do our kids hate each other? Would I go out with this person if I didn't have a child? If you answer yes, there's a second date. And hopefully, the start of a new mommy romance. If not, the dreaded break up.

And get your head out of the gutter.  Instead of love and roses, it's all about friendship.

Ye of little faith, this is no joke.

Check out Moms  on the Prowl by Baltimore Sun writer Kate Shatzkin.

"This "mommy dating," the search many a parent undertakes, consciously or not, for like-minded friends with children. On the playground and at school, they're on the prowl for grownups who will share their interests, validate their parenting style, commiserate with their sacrifices - and, oh yes, provide appropriate playmates for their kids."

Mommy break ups?  I've been through a few of those. Typically happens at about the six-month mark after your first baby. Once the newborn craziness is gone, you've got nothing left to say if that's the only hook to cling. It's pretty funny now that I look back on them. The phone calls stop. The invites to the park...gone. The family BBQs...adios. But then months later you run into each other in the hood and one of you...the one who ceased the friendship...looks mighty embarrassed.

But like all else, age brings wisdom. Second-time moms are less on the prowl. You either "click" or you don't.  You don't waste time because you don't have time to waste.

And, in my experiences, the friends that you do make are around for the long haul.

So less scandal, but more fun.

Good reads galore...

Finally had the chance to read Sunday's edition of the SF Chronicle Sunday Magazine and it's filled with excellent stories for the crazedparent realm.

The cover story is about author Ayelet Waldman, who created quite a stir a few months back when she wrote in an essay that she loved her hubby more than her four kids. The article gives a better glimpse of the author...let's you take put her comment into better context. And it's pretty funny too. My favorite line because it's just plain good writing.

"Her blogging voice is large. When she opens the door of her airy, brown-shingled, Craftsman- style house, she looks so small."

Two other stories to check out are:

-It Takes an Online Village...Is the Berkeley Parents Network a localized version of Ann Landers? Or a substitute for much-needed family advice?...Some of the Q&A's in the article that come from the Network are hysterical.

-Whoz TaWking? The IM Lifeline...I hadn't really thought about IM and teenagers, how much time spend on the computer chatting on IM versus on the phone. A little scary.

If you got some time check 'em out or bookmark it for later. Some really good stuff worth your time, especially if you like stellar writing.