Parenting Sites 411

The alternate title for today’s interview could be, My Bad.

For most of the day yesterday, I thought it was Monday. So the thought that I needed an interview complete for today never crossed my mind. This is one of those time management skills I need to learn- remember the actual days of the week. Or get a calendar and post it somewhere obvious. Like over the coffee pot, which I visited way too many times yesterday.

Anyway, I tried to get a last minute interview but she is busy with sick kids and I know what that is like. When Fuller was sick, the last thing I wanted to do was write any blog entries. I know Jennifer offered to sign up and Jennifer, you are on my list, but I got lazy and kept forgetting to email you. Sorry.

Amy, over at Mom’s Daily Dose, gave me the perfect out for my personal miscommunication. (Yes, it is possible to miscommunicate with yourself.) Amy wrote about back story for bloggers, and I thought this would be a great time to tell you a bit more about myself.
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Yesterday was the one month anniversary of the last day at my job. So that makes today as the one month anniversary of me being a full time stay at home mom. I’m the type of person who gets a bit retrospective when these kinds of anniversaries crop up (I was a wreck before my 30th birthday).

This past month has been… well, I don’t think one word can summarize that month that I have had. I accomplished a few projects, I nursed a sick child for one week, I did umpteen loads of laundry, and I started shopping for a new couch.

Unfortunately for me, I have a hard time looking at everything good that happened (item number one: spent more time with my son!) and I look around and see everything that I haven’t accomplished. There is a chaos of papers on my buffet, the computer desk is a wreck, and I can’t seem to get a handle on keeping a clean kitchen. I’m getting better at actually cooking dinner and getting it on the table soon after my husband comes home (it helps when he IMs me to tell me he is on his way), but I feel like this uneasy sense of dread just trying to figure out what the family will actually eat for dinner.

There is also a phrase that I dread my husband saying to me at some point during this SAHM career- “What do you do all day?” I feel like most of my time needs to be accounted in some way. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with figuring out the blogging and home life balance. And I need to pay attention to what I actually do all day.

Time management applies to all walks of life- the high powered executive on the 10th floor of some corporation to the bus driver who keeps his/ her route running on time. I keep thinking that I need some time management skills refresher course to keep track and accomplish what needs to be accomplished.

That is where Mommy Track’d comes in. I love this site because it has so many helpful resources on keeping the sanity.The site originated as a site specifically for women who remain in the workforce after children enter their lives. But really, I see it as a site for all parents who are struggling to keep it together.

There are articles on hot topics (I love this article on kids and the TV) and a survival guide featuring articles ranging from organization to making meals quickly. There is a great section dedicated to recommending topical books (for parents and kids). Mommy Track’d also features message boards where parents can come together to share their frustrations, advice, and support for one another.

The In the Spotlight feature might be my favorite feature. I really enjoy reading interviews of other people and seeing their solutions for their lives.

Today I plan on taking time to actually list out what I want to accomplish and seeing if I can at least move some of the filing to the actual file cabinet. And then on our todo list is more finger painting.

Happy One Month of SAHM to me!

Last night I tried to watch the Oscars. I went to bed at 11:30, because my eyes being closed were much more important than knowing who won Best Picture.

The funny thing is, ever since Damon and I became parents, we have seen less and less of the inside of a movie theater. We do have a membership to Blockbuster and it gets used frequently, but it might be days before we actually watch the rental. Even taking time to sit down and watch a movie in our own home is difficult these days.

Our son is only two, but he has been to the movies three times. Last summer we took him to Regal Cinemas Family Film Festival. There he saw Curious George and The Curse of the Wererabbit. And recently we took him to see Happy Feet.

Watching the Oscars and noting how funny it is that we haven’t been to a movie in quite some time made me wonder about how parent’s pick the movies their families get to see. I know that there are several websites out on the internet that are geared toward families and helping you with this decision.

Family Style Film Guide- they give you graphs on profanity, nudity, sex, violence, and drugs and alcohol
Parent Previews- letter grades for overall, violence, sexual content, language, and drugs and alcohol
Yahoo’s Movie Mom- Nell Minow is an author, radio personality, and movie critic. Her reviews focus on profanity, nudity, alcohol/ drugs, violence/ scariness, and diversity issues. She gives each film a letter grade and offers other films that families might enjoy that have similar themes or topics.
Kids in Mind- this site gives a rating number (1 to 10) for sex/ nudity, violence/ gore, and profanity. And then it lists the instances in the movie where they occur.

These are only four of the many websites available to us as parents. Do you have a favorite site you use to get information on films for your family?

I have to admit that right now I am trying to find my blogging path with this site. I want to review websites, but really I am finding that it can be a bit of a burden to do five days a week. So, after looking over some other websites, I thought that Fridays would be a good time to point you toward some notable parent or family related news stories from the past week.

Since I have been forging my way through the land of stay at home moms (I’ve only been doing that for a month now), I have decided to watch the news while I fix dinner in the evenings. It helps me keep in touch with topics for another one of my blogs, and it gives me a sense of knowing what is going on in the world, beyond Fuller’s indecipherable monologues. (He is on the verge of a language explosion. Today he actually responded to a question with a polite, “No” and then gave me his preference in the situation. “No, Mommy. No outside. Inside.”)

Amilia Taylor, who lives in Miami, went home this week. Amilia was born at 22 weeks in October and she weighed only 9 ounces.

Even the daughter of the world’s richest man has a limit on her recreational computer time. Bill Gates revealed that his daughter is only allowed 45 minutes of computer time during the week. On the weekends, she gets an hour.

Dean Foods has announced that it will refuse milk from cloned cows.

Our neighborhood is raising the final dollars for a new playground that will be built by the community in March. It will be part of the last real greenspace in our neighborhood and include a walking track and pavilion for picnics. This article on kids living near greenspaces being less overweight made me even more excited to see this playground be built.

Have a great weekend. I plan on soaking up all the good weather before it rains on Sunday. What are you going to do?

Our family has a tradition every March. We head out of town and where ever the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament is located. It is a tradition that my husband had when he was a child and he really wanted to pass along to his children. We go with Damon’s parents and have a blast cheering Auburn on and then hanging around the city where the tournament is hosted.

Fuller has only been once, when he was 6 months old. That year the tournament was in Atlanta. We had to skip last year, due to lack of tickets, but that has been remedied and we are very excited to make the trek to Atlanta in a few weeks.

This trip will be very different because for the first time, we will have separate hotel rooms from my inlaws. Fuller will also be
interested in the games for about 5 minutes and then want to spend the rest of the games walking around the Georgia Dome. I am sure of it.

But, the trip isn’t all about basketball. The first two days are pretty heavy with games, but the mornings are free and clear to see what else Atlanta has to offer. That is where GoCityKids.com comes in and helps me figure out what in Atlanta is kid friendly.

When I go to the site I am greeted by a map of the United States that indicates all the cities that the site covers. So, I click on Atlanta. At this point, I have locked in my city. If I decide to change cities, then I have to click on the link that reads, “Choose New City” (it is at the top, on the left).
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Wednesday is here and Fuller is finally better. We had an awesome day yesterday in terms of bodily fluids. There was this clingy, lazy, crabby attitude that Fuller was projecting, but since right at this moment he is happily chowing down on Joes-Os, I am going to forget yesterday happened.

In our neck of the woods, Wednesday is all about Mom’s Group. I get to go hang out with other mom’s and Fuller gets to interact with other kids. It is something that I could never do when I was working full time, so this is a great perk of quitting my job.

As far as this blog goes, Wednesdays are probably going to be very light, with a focus on a parent blogger. I want to actually interview some of these parent bloggers, but I want to know who you want to hear from. So, I am going to publish this entry, close my laptop, and when I come back this afternoon, I want to see lots and lots of comments (ha! right!) telling me which parent bloggers you would like me to contact. Then I will get my brave on and actually contact them.

Ready, set, comment!

I remember watching Sesame Street when I was little and I am thrilled that it is still around to help educate my son. Oh, and he watches it while I type. It is a pretty sweet deal.

I have mentioned before that we watch a lot of PBS Kids in our house. This gives my son no patience for actual commercials on network TV and a love for Gergh (aka Curious George), Mel-mo (aka Elmo), and a certain purple dinosaur. Yes, I admit my kid watches and enjoys Barney. It is rare that he actually watches Barney, but because Fuller loves to sing, it is a great match of TV babysitting and me getting to prepare lunch.

Usually I like to check out the internet and see the websites that go along with the TV shows that Fuller enjoys. I know that I can find additional resources and activities that go along with what he is already familiar with. And usually they are free!

The Sesame Street home on the internet is SesameWorkshop.org with a specific subsection that takes you to Sesame Street. The light post on the left side of the screen indicates that the site is geared toward two audiences- parents and kids.

The Parents Section
This has links that take you to another window or change the flash menu to the left. The first link, Sesame Parents, takes you to a screen full of resources that parents can read and use in their interaction with their kids. There is advice on today’s topics, solutions for life’s difficult situations, activities, and tips on beginning to plant the roots of education in your infant.

Back at the main Sesame Page, there are other links on the light pole, but they lead you to the same information in the above paragraph. The fun to go link offers three options for activities- coloring pages, make your own coloring pages, and another link to the activities page. The coloring pages, especially the letter B page, gets a lot of love from me. Fuller loves the letter B and coloring.

The Kids Section
This part of the site heavily utilizes flash for interaction with your child. There are games, stories, music (with Sesame Street radio!), art, and a special section for the furry red monster. All sections feature the Sesame Street characters your child is already familiar with, so they should enjoy interacting with them online.

I look forward to the day when Fuller can use a mouse and access these sites himself with my supervision. He already tries to take over the trackpad and move the pointer, but I think an external mouse is more appropriate for him to start his computer education. But for now, we journey through Sesame Street online together and it has brought him a lot of joy.

I decided that last week I accidentally moved into the Crumley House of Spew and Poo. I wish I could figure out how to move out, but I think my only hope of improvement is to change the tenants of our location. I mean really, how many diapers can one person deal with before going a bit nutty? I almost cried on Friday when Fuller threw up first thing that morning. He really seemed like he was getting better on Thursday evening.

Today the boy is asking and signing “eat” rather intensely, so I am hoping he really is feeling better.

When the news broke last week about the Peanut Butter recall, many helpful relatives sent us news links to the articles, wondering if that was the cause of our recent misfortune. Well, in our house choosy moms choose JIF, which was not on the recall list. I figured that we were just dealing with the stomach bug that many of the families in our church have been dealing with.

If you check that link up there, you will notice that I linked straight to the FDA website with the official recall notice. I did not link to a news story or other blog entry. That is because when it comes to recalls, food or otherwise, I really prefer to get it from the horse’s mouth and I consider the government agencies the final word on those issues.

There are several areas of a parents life that recalls can affect- food, household supplies, furniture, and of course toys.
I am not planning a total review of these sites, but I do want pass a long these websites as potential bookmarks for you. Just as every parent should have band aids and Popsicles, you should probably be familiar where to find these websites.

Recalls.gov is an excellent starting point and maybe the only site you want to actually bookmark. It offers the following topics of recalls at the top of the site: Consumer Products, Motor Vehicles, Boats, Food, Medicine, Cosmetics, and Environmental Products. When you click on a topic, you then get to a list of relevant links to the actual agencies that deal with those subjects.

I went through each section and only two did not offer links to sign up for alert emails. Personally I would prefer if the agencies all used RSS feeds for their articles, and some of them do, but it is important to note that I did not find email signups under Motor Vehicles and Boats.

Here are some quick links for you:

Infant/ Child product recalls- this does not include toys
Toy recalls
Food recalls- not including meat, eggs, and poultry
Meat, eggs, and poultry

I often wonder how my parents made it to adulthood without cabinet latches, outlet covers, and car seats (gasp!), but I am really glad that society has progressed to the point where a finding a car seat with a five point harness is very easy. Hope these links help you and your family like they help mine.

I don’t know what happened, but I know I tried to post something earlier, but it got eaten by a timeout on the network. Grrrrr…

Well, we still have sickness in the house and it has infected me, the mom, the one who should be holding this household together. Yesterday I lost track of the number of times my son threw up. It wasn’t pretty and I have the need for a carpet cleaner.

I didn’t do anything on the computer yesterday, I was just to woozy to sit upright.

We missed celebrating Valentine’s Day, because of all the fun with vomit we were having. It was a bummer, but hey it’s only a made up Hallmark holiday anyway. I tell my husband I love him every day! I still have some valentine’s to mail out, but that requires a trip to the store to pick up pictures, and with Fuller’s state of being right now, a car ride isn’t in our future.
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We still have sickness on our minds at my house. My little patient is currently hanging out on our couch, watching his favorite character- Curious George.

We watch a lot of PBS kids shows in our house and we are blessed because we have not one but two PBS stations in our area. We have WTCI, the local Chattanooga PBS station, and WGPB, the PBS station that serves “all of Georgia and Atlanta.” Don’t ask me why Atlanta was separated from Georgia in that phrase. That’s how they say it!

I prefer to watch WTCI because I like to support the local PBS efforts. However WTCI doesn’t have as much children’s programming as WGPB, so in the afternoon, if the TV is on, we are watching WGPB.

WGPB has this public service announcement that comes on between shows called “What’s in a Doctor’s Bag.” There is a funny looking doctor explaining different health issues to kids and telling them what to do to prevent them. Since they pimp the website on the commercials I thought that I would check it out.

First, you should know that the doctor in the PSA is Dr. Neil Shulman. He is known as the “Real Doc Hollywood.” According to the about page,

Doc Neil travels the world performing his live What’s in a Doctor’s Bag? show for kids (& adults) in elementary schools, Boys & Girls Clubs, hospitals, festivals, theaters, etc.

Design: The site doesn’t seem as slick as some as the other parenting websites I have visited. But it isn’t awful. The home page indicated 14 items you will learn about, with one flashing germ icon. It looks like the design could be tighter as well. I have to scroll to get to the navigation at the bottom of the screen, which is a bit annoying.

There isn’t a lot to say about the design of the site except that it isn’t really impressive. 2 high fives.

Navigation: I already mentioned that I had to scroll to the bottom of the screen to get to the main navigation points. I don’t think that is an efficient use of pixels and HTML code. Also, I think that if you are going to list 14 things you can learn about on the site, you should make them clickable to take you to the sections that actually teach you about the germs and otoscope.

There are five navigation buttons at the bottom of the screen. Two of them- videos and activities- take you to the same page. That is a little misleading because it makes you think there is more to the website than there is. Also, when you click on videos it should take you to the videos section, which it does not. You have to click again to get to the actual videos.

To view the videos you need Macromedia Flash. Most computers have this installed, so that shouldn’t be a problem. Under each picture of the video, there is a link to the corresponding activity page (a sheet to color) and a link to launch the video.

One of the activities is a coloring book which leads children on a journey of what is in a doctor’s bag and what each item is used for. It is informative and well drawn. You can print the entire book with one click of a button.

There isn’t a lot to the site to get to, but of what there is, I think it could be better. Like the design, I think the navigation could be tighter, with everything at the top.

2 high fives.

Content: Ok, warning. This is where my review is going to get ugly.

There are two types of content on this site- videos and activity pages. The activity pages load nicely, print easily, and are fun for kids. The coloring book includes good information about what is in a doctor’s bag.

The videos may be interesting, however I can’t see them. It isn’t that they don’t work. But what happens when you click on the “watch video” link is that it starts to run and then takes you to a screen telling you the video is no longer available. It does tell you to go to instantvideogenerator.com to see if it is there, but I don’t want to do that. More work for me. If you say you have videos, then you need to have videos. You don’t tell me to call a phone number and you don’t tell me to go to another website. You can redirect me to the other site with the actual video, but don’t tell me to do the work. The internet is all about less work.

This was really disappointing to me, because I thought I would be able to get my son actually interested in brushing his teeth properly by getting to watch a free video. That is for naught.

1 high five, because I like the coloring sheets.

I had high hopes for this website as a parenting resource. Instead it looks like someone made it in their advanced computer class in high school, for the easy A. We do like coloring pages at my house, and printing them out is a big deal for my toddler (he likes the printer), but if a major portion of the website isn’t working, then the site just isn’t valuable to me.

2 high fives, which is a bit generous.

what’s in a doctor’s bag, website review, children’s health

what’s in a doctor’s bag, website review, children’s health

I have a sick toddler at home and I am changing diapers every twenty minutes. It drove me to google the phrase “parenting site sick kid” and I came up with this internet gem: FamilyEducation.com

I don’t want to mislead you to think the site is about sick kids, that phrase just helped me come up with today’s site to review.

FamilyEducation is a site that has been around since 1996. Their about page tells us:

Parents find practical guidance, grade-specific information about their children’s school experience, strategies to get involved with their children’s learning, free email newsletters, and fun and entertaining family activities. FamilyEducation brings together leading organizations from both the public and private sectors to help parents, teachers, schools, and community organizations use online tools and other media resources to positively affect children’s education and overall development.

I love education sites, because any way that I can figure out how to pass along knowledge to my son is golden. At first glance, I think I will like this site.

Design: The homepage is well organized and not cluttered with icons or animated sections. I have no idea if the orange background was coordinated with their sponsor, Motrin, and the main picture of the planet Mars, but it all seems to flow well. But I do take issue with the color orange. Don’t get me wrong, orange is my favorite color, but when used on the web, with a lot of content, I think it should be used sparingly. And this is coming from the girl whose first family website did have a completely orange background. I told you, it is my favorite color.

For design, we give 4 high fives!

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Before I even got pregnant, I was searching the web for all kinds of information: ovulation predictors, due date calculators, baby names, pregnancy calendars, and even baby gear. I was dreaming of pregnancy and babies all the time, I couldn’t wait for the blessed day that I peed on a stick and then saw two lines.

During my searches I signed up for the parenting website Babycenter.com. For a while the only reason I visited was to check the ovulation calculator. But there is so much more there, which was useful during my pregnancy and the first two years of Fuller’s life.

This is my first review for this blog, so before I jump into it let’s go over the details. First, this is pretty much all my opinion on the site. The main qualifications that I have are 1) I am a parent and 2) I use the internet. There are three categories that I will be reviewing on any website: design, navigation, and content. Each category will be given a score of 0 to 5 “high fives.”

Babycenter.com is a member of the Johnson & Johnson family of companies. Their about page claims they are the most trusted parenting resource on the web. It is a site that focuses on expertise, shopping, and an online community presence.

Design: Babycenter has gone through a makeover. I think it used to have a blue background and now it has a crisp white background. This gives the illusion that there is less on the page, and it is not overwhelming to look at. From what I can see, there is the same amount of content, since the makeover, it just looks less because of the white background.

The site is content driven, so there are not a lot of flashy pictures or icons. Most of the images are from the advertisements (from Johnson and Johnson product, natch), but they are placed in such a way that you are not distracted from your journey for information.

Five high fives!

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Before I get into the fun world of website review, I want to point out that the internet is full of this color called gray. In that gray area, we have a websites that have been created by entities interested in giving people resources from a variety of sources. For parents this could be some sort of experts: doctors, financial managers, physiologists, physical trainers, etc. I see these kinds of websites as the “Big Guy” of parenting resources.

Examples: Babycenter.com, WebMD.com, iparenting.com, and let’s not forget parenting.com.

Also found in the gray area are sites that bring people together to collaborate in their parenting experiences. With their online avatars and bios they discuss what makes them good, bad, pretty, or ugly parents… all in the hope that one day their experience will be the lightbulb that helps another parent somewhere in cyberspace. These kinds of sites can be summed up in the about page of one of my favorites, Minti.com: parent to parent advice-opedia (of which Minti is the largest).

Examples: the aforementioned Minti.com (tell them mrscrumley sent you!) and Clubmom.com. There is even more gray area here because some of the “Big Guy” sites include sections with parent to parent interaction.

And finally, the third part of the gray area are the ever popular blogs that seem to pop up every second of everyday. Blog building doesn’t even take a holiday!

Parent blogs are a bulk of what I like to read on the internet. I appreciate the candidness that parents talk about their family lives, their children’s habits, successes, and even their faults. Parents who write about their families online are very brave and are also offering a service to the internet. While they aren’t sharing it in a parent to parent format, they are still sharing. Some aren’t very technically savvy, some are still using the basic template that blogger offers, and some have created beautiful places to hang out using their words and HTML skills. Parent blogs are special, and while they are resourceful, I don’t want to include them in my actual reviews. I will be featuring blogs on this site (also a blog), but in a non-review format.

I know there are more shades of grey in the spectrum of the internet, but off the top of my head, those three are what I will probably be covering. I also reserve the right to sometimes feature or review sites that may not have the target audience of parents, but they could be a resource if you used it correctly.

See you Monday, when we will start with Babycenter.com. (Here is some disclosure: I use this site a lot. So I thought I would start easy.)

Well, here I am, with a blank “Write Post” field sitting before me. Let’s jump in, shall we?

First of all, hi and welcome! My name is Alicia (though most people call me Alli) and I am going to be your guide for navigating the many, many parenting websites that are on our beloved internet these days.

When I proposed this type of site I said that I would review parenting websites, including a rating system of some sort, and give it my own personal slant with stories from my real life quest for being a good parent. I am learning as I go, as I think most parents are, and I often use the internet to help me in this quest. I signed up for an account at Babycenter before I was even pregnant!

I am still working on the details, but I want you to know that I am a parent, so that is one qualification for this site that I can check off the list. I used the internet, so there you have it, I am fully qualified to write a blog about other parenting websites.

No really, I can’t pretend to be an expert, but I hope to learn how to pick the wheat from the chaff and bring to you the parenting website gems. I am also currently working on how to indicate a ratings system. If you have any ideas, then feel free to let me know.

A quick 411 on me: I live in Chattanooga, TN. I have a 2 year old named Fuller and a husband named Damon. I am currently in my second week as a Stay At Home Mom, and so far I am still in the honeymoon phase of no longer being worried about my clothing and trying to sleep past 5:30 am. We write about our family on a daily basis.

I look forward to this journey and thank you for coming along with me.