Parenting Sites 411

I had to think about this one for a long time because I don’t know if I really even want my parenting skills out here on the world wide web or not.  Do you?  So, I’ll be as honest as I can but you know, I’m not perfect.

Right now my biggest fault is working on the computer more than I play with my kids.  Every few days my husband and I have a talk about we are going to quit spending all of our time on the computer.  But, the fact is, we do quite a bit with our children.  As a mater off act, we do most everything we do as a family.  Very rarely does one of take shopping trip alone. Sometimes we do split up and take one child each and do what errands need to be done.

But, basically we eat all our meals that we are home together, we all go to baseball practice (I’ve been sick this week with crud so excuse me) and we go to the games together.  We go with other families after the games to play areas with the kids and such. 

And, we drag them along to the grocery store a lot but we try to find a way to add in an activity for them when it works out. 

So, I”m not that bad of a parent, am I?  If you are sitting around with nothing to do, Blissfully Domestic’s Homeschool Bliss has a cute quiz for you to take to see what kind of Edu-Parent Style you have.  Interested?  Go for it.  When you are finished, I’ll give you my score too.

Cass is one of my online mom friends, and someone I kind of think of as a mentor. She has eight children, which makes me look to her with awe, and she has great advice, which makes me keep going back and reading her blog over and over.

I sent her the interview questions a few weeks ago, but my recent travels pushed it back to today. Cass gave great answers and I know you will enjoy her:

Hi, I’m Cass. I live in coastal North Carolina. I have eight children who range in age from 19 to 1. They are all still at home. I have been married twice, and my current husband and I have been married for 14 years. He’s the last one, too.

I have been blogging since June of 2004. My first blog is www.cassknits.com (Cass Knits) and I talk about knitting, homeschooling and scouting there. On www.motheringmany.com (Mothering Many) I talk more about daily life with eight children: tips, tricks, ideas and such. I have many other blogs, but those are the only ones that I discuss actual parenting on.

I started blogging because I enjoyed reading other people’s blogs and wanted a place to show off the stuff I knit. I continue to blog because I find that I have a lot to say. Even more startling is that there are people who are actually interested in reading what I write. I enjoy blogging for the friendships I’ve made, and for the creative outlet.

I’m not sure I can say blogging helps me as a parent. Certainly reading other mother’s blogs helps me, though.

I do worry about safety for my kids. I’m very open about my family in general, with lots of pictures, as you’ve noted. I figured early on that I could post pictures or use names, and the pictures won out. Yes, there are topics I don’t discuss in my blogs. Does the whole world need to know the most minute details of my struggles to parent a teen? No. Can the world benefit from me noting what I’ve learned during those same struggles? Yes. But I can couch it so that both my dignity and that of my children is preserved. I don’t want to say things on my blog(s) now that they will regret later. That’s partly a respect for their privacy, and partly a wish to not appear as fallible as I really am.

My three oldest children have blogs, though only the oldest is an avid blogger.

Oh my. What do I do when I am not blogging? Well, I either knit, clean or sleep, LOL!

I rarely look up parenting advice online, but when I do, I go first to www.askdrsears.com (Ask Dr. Sears). His was the first parenting book I ever read that mentioned more than 3 children as if it were normal. His ideas are sound, and I heartily recommend his books, as well as his website.

As for parenting blogs I like to read, you’ll have to check out the sidebars of both the blogs I mentioned above. They are too numerous to list here.

Today’s parent blogger interview is with another 451 Press blogger, Jennifer Remeta. She keeps us up to date on her adorable son, Alex over at Parenting Toddlers.

I sent her a list of questions and she promptly returned them with answers and everything!

So, meet Jennifer, add her to your feedreader, and tell her Alli sent you!

First, if you can pass along any basic info you are comfortable sharing…

My name is Jennifer Remeta, I’m 30 years old and I live in Greenville, South Carolina with my husband, Nick, my adorable son, Alex, and my three furkids, Diesel the Great Dane, Abby the Lab, and Pandora the Queen Cat. Nick and I have been married three years in September, and he truly is my perfect match.
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I am so excited for today’s interview with Loretta Oliver. Loretta is an online friend of mine who lives in Newport News, Virginia. She is smart, crafty, and has four boys (Dylan, 9 almost 10;, Lucas, 8; Noah, 7; Ethan, 6)! In September she will have been experiencing marital bliss for 10 years.

My dream is to be smart, crafty, and have four boys, so I am kind of internet stalking her for a little while. I don’t think she minds too much though.

I asked her to be my first parent blogger interview because she was the one who made the hand prints for my rating system when I do an “official” review of a website. Yeah, I haven’t done one in a while, but this is about Loretta, not me.
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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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