Cross-posted at MotherTalkers.
Hello fellow moms, dads and caregivers!
I am a mother to a five-year-old boy and almost 2-year-old girl who moderates an online parenting community called MotherTalkers. We are also a DKos community and occasionally try to cross-post diaries here.
But as you can imagine, a random parenting topic here or there can easily get lost in all the discussion of electoral politics. Don't get me wrong, we love and discuss politics, too! But we are hoping to dedicate a diary at least one morning a week here to all things parenting whether it be education, "life balance," childhood development, caregiving and other resources we can share with one another.
This is the first Saturday morning parenting diary so it is a work in progress. I will attempt to post it every Saturday morning at 8 p.m. PT. Please let me know what I can change or add. In the meantime, introduce yourselves! How many children do you have? Do you care for elderly parents or work as an advocate? What are you most interested in discussing?
Here are some topics we have recently discussed at MotherTalkers:
Bill Gates, whose foundation has awarded $2 billion to U.S. public schools, recently released a letter outlining his education funding priorities. He wants to focus on charter schools with longer school days like the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) in Houston, where almost all their students go on to four-year colleges and universities. He also wants certain restrictions placed on charter schools removed like the limited amount of funding they receive. What say you of Gates's ideas?
In related schools news, we discussed the ethics of selling Girl Scout cookies and other kid fundraising stuff to co-workers. Due to economic uncertainty and slashed budgets, both public and private schools are having to rely on an unusual number of fundraisers: silent auctions, bake sales, raffle ticket sales and other items from catalogues. How do you manage the barrage of solicitations from schools and fundraising related to extracurricular activities?
Finally, we discussed the twin baby boom due to IVF. Some moms dished on how they manage caring for two babies at once. My tired self reacting: Shudder.
What else is on your mind?