Should we start an “Aunties Clique”?!

I am on the road pitching Mommies Clique in Chicago this week, actively recruiting Chief Mommie Organizers (CMOs) in Chicago, San Fran and New York! Know anyone? 

Someone told me about a new community called Savvy Auntie.  What a cool idea!  Everyone—including me–has been talking about the “Power of Mommies” and Mommie bloggers but what about The Power of Aunties?  I have to think there is tremendous spending power there. 

Savvy Auntie says” Though many women opt not to have their own children, that doesn’t mean they don’t dote on the kids in their life.” and  is a “parenting site for non-parents” targeting PANKS–“Professional Aunts, No Kids”.  The site includes recommendations for activities indoors, outdoors or from a long-distance, age appropriate gift ideas, and a forum to share tips.

As Auntie to precious Ava, Alex, Robert, Levi and Hannah you can bet I am going to check it out to make sure I am doing “All Things Auntie”!  Love it.  Melanie Notkin is a genius!

 

A Mommy’s Plea for a Better Diaper-Changing Invention

Bumbo baby seats, bottle warmers, wipee warmers, bottle drying racks: These baby products are surely useful to some. Personally, I never slow down long enough to warm wipees. And if I did have a wipee warmer, it would have been hijacked long ago by my three year old daughter so her baby doll’s bum is warm when getting changed.

Baby companies have developed a “baby gadget” for nearly every purpose imaginable. If you’ve shopped at Babies ‘R Us, you know what I mean. I’ve passed on purchasing many of these “necessities” because long ago I realized I would never take the time to use them. Nor do I have space in my home. (Because I live in a small, old New England house, baby products must first have “high floor real estate value” before ever being purchased.)

In any case, as far as I can tell, baby companies still have missed one giant opportunity – to develop something that can help me contain my squirmy, wormy, active baby while I change his diaper. I realize there are changing tables and changing pads, but honestly I have not found them useful. Perhaps it’s me, but I have a hard time changing my baby’s diaper while he is at an awkward right angle to me.

So I’ve been battling my son for months with every diaper change. The scene looks like this – I place my son on his back and he immediately flips over. I then wrangle him to his back and hog-tie his feet. He arches his back and turns into a plank while becoming airborne from the head down. I then throw a diaper under him and go through 20 wipes so I can change him as quickly as possible. By now, he’s wrangled himself onto his stomach and begins to crawl away. I pick up the diaper and run after him. Once I catch him, I pick him up and diaper him. After this, he usually dons a diaper for long periods during the day because redressing him after a diaper change is like flogging myself for no reason. Repeat this process five to six times a day and you have one frustrated mom. Don’t even get me started on changing him in public.

So how about a baby product that is useful – a baby-changing contraption that would safely secure a baby so he or she lies down straight in front of you and SOMEHOW takes the above described frustration out of the diaper changing experience.

I’m not asking for the scene to be so calm that I’m apt to mistake my diaper changing experience for a day at the spa. I’m just asking for something – seemingly basic – that would keep babies somewhat immobile while I perform the task quickly.

If/when this baby product is designed – I’ll be the first one to spread word of its value. And sign me up for any focus group, interview, questionnaire and prototype testing on this new product. If there weren’t already a Diaper Genie out there, it would be the perfect name for this product because it takes magical powers to change an active baby’s diaper.

Is this invention of any interest to anyone else – or does anyone have suggestions on how to keep my 11 month old son from saying “sayonara” every time I change his diaper? Recommendations or war stories are welcome.

– Mary

Does equally shared parenting work for all families?

Picture from the New York Times online

The cover story for the New York Times Magazine last weekend was, When Mom and Dad Share It All, a story about parents who share all parenting and home-related duties from laundry and meal preparation to thank-you notes and paying the bills. This is not the story of the stay-at-home dad and the high-powered career mom or the stay-at-home mom and the really involved and helpful dad; this story is about couples who are trying to shatter parenting gender stereotypes of all kinds. Both parents pull back on work hours, and discussions are about who will be home with the children, who will wash the darks and who will wash the lights, and who will plan the children’s birthday parties this year.

At its core, the story reminds us of the importance of ongoing communication with our partners and figuring out what will work best for both us and our children. As the article shows with its example families, equally shared parenting doesn’t work for everyone, and what is most important is to figure out what works for your family, regardless of what society says it should look like, which is perhaps the hardest part of all.

What does the division of labor look like in your home? Are you happy with that balance or would you change it if you could? Is there a way to be equal partners in the home without sacrificing career advancement and monetary gain? Will equally shared parenting ever be the norm?

– Karen