Parenting Sites 411

I’m feeling bombarded with information.  And, the sad thing, I want more.  It only took a couple of conferences and some great women and I am just frothing at the mouth trying to find a way to get to more conferences.  One of the issues that I would like to see addressed in a conference is education.  I know, you are thinking that maybe I need to go to an educational conference.  Well, the truth is, I don’t like those kind.

What I have in my mind is a session where educators and parents are able to show off some of their skills.  Yes, it would be difficult to pick a panel and who knows if anyone besides me is interested.  But, I do know that one blog in particular has been running a post through twitter that I think is extremely noteworthy. 

The article deals with autism and the writer at Party Planning Professor agreed to die her hair red if she got 400 comments.  Each comment was worth .25 cents that will go to Autism Speaks.  Don’t miss out on a great article as well as a nice way to support the Autism community.

I’ve talked about this tender subject before: the desire to have a baby of one sex over the other. Many parents are reluctant to admit they’ve wanted a child to be a specific gender, especially if they have ended up being the opposite. But nearly every expectant parent is at least a little curious about what they have brewing within and I’m no different. Which is why I was tremendously interested in this website that I stumbled across in my internet travels the other day. It’s an article hosted by in-gender.com, a website that professes to give parents the straight truth on gender selection. The article is called “The Odds of Having Another Boy or Girl“.

What I found there was a somewhat scientific study of over 6,000 families and breaks the odds and statistics down in an easy to read and easy to understand format. How many families had a preference? How many families already had children? How many boys did they have? How many girls?

The Old Wives Tales have always said (and believe me, I’ve heard it a lot) that once you have a couple boys and no girls, you’re far more likely to have another boy than you are a girl. But the truth? According to this study, you’re only about 6% more likely to have another boy after already having three (like me). And that’s not a whole lot. It’s true, you are more likely to have a boy, but that goes for anyone, including families with only girls. But that’s because people are slightly more likely to have boys anyhow, since the natural percentage breakdown is 51% boys and 49% girls.

What it comes down to is that it all is really mostly 50/50.  Regardless of what gender of child you’ve had previously, you’re just as likely to have a baby of the opposite gender as you are of the same gender.  It’s something that logic dictates to us anyhow, but sometimes, it’s just nice to hear.

I’m sorry I wasn’t around to post yesterday. A weekend trip turned into a family emergency and we didn’t arrive home until yesterday evening. But I’m back home now and ready to get dishing the goods on parenting sites. Even better, I have JUST the site to tell you about today. I can’t believe I haven’t mentioned this site before, to be honest. Cool Mom Picks is the brainchild of Kristen Chase and Liz Gumbinner and features products and goodies to help cool moms stay that way while chasing their kids around.  According to the site:

Our writers also look for helpful websites, cool causes, kid tunes that don’t make you run screaming from the room, and pretty much anything else that strikes our fancy. If it’s something we would like ourselves and the website doesn’t scar your retinas, it’s a pick. But while we may be fascinated by that $19,000 Victorian mansion playhouse, don’t count on finding it in our archives. We’re moms too. We get the budget thing.

Which means, this is a GREAT resource for parents everywhere!  Want that perfect birthday gift?  Want to know what’s in for the new school year?  Looking for an adorable baby blanket?  This is the place to look.  Be sure to check out their Back to School shopping guide (even though school has already started, the finds here are good all year round).  Also, take a peek at their newest contest (find it under the welcome in the left sidebar) which features a designer goodie bag that’s filled with $600 worth of fantastic finds.  You can win it just by signing up to receive their monthly newsletter.  Good deal, huh?

Trust me, this is a site you shouldn’t miss out on.  There’s a little something for moms of all ages and stages here and you’re guaranteed to make your bank account nervous just browsing through their archives.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

My dear friend cagey recommended this site to me and I’m so glad she did! It’s called “She Doesn’t Get It” and the tagline says it all: “Two sisters. Two opinions. Both right.”  Together they tackle the issues, mostly relating to having children (or not) and give their own unique perspectives on it.  What results is a very interesting conversation that you can’t help but throw you own two cents into.  According to their blog, the sisters are:

Sister Big claims the helm at Surrender, Dorothy, where she writes as Dorothy. There, she writes about her beautiful redheaded daughter (Little Angel), parenting, financial bobbles, fixing up Chateau Travolta, and many other exciting topics (like destroying umbrellas when you’re upset). Good times.

Sister Little runs the show over at Tales from Clark Street, where she writes as Blondie. No, she’s clearly not blonde. Ignore this. Sister Little’s tales include life as a single in the Jungle City of Chicago, what happens when your cat has IBS, and the joys of books, mental breakdowns, and orchids. Again, good times.

Check out their discussion about the revised food pyramids and the hot button issue of co-sleeping.  Readers can submit questions for the sisters to discuss and debate giving the site a wonderful interactive feel.  You need to check this site out, you’ll lose half a day, I swear!

It is being reported that Disney is launching their own parent to parent site.

…the new site is a one-stop site for parents, especially mothers, providing everything from Internet search to user-generated articles on key topics such as education and food, and, eventually, a “ParentPedia,” a compilation of information on 1,000 topics that can be expanded by users.

The site, to be announced Tuesday in Los Angeles, will go live later this week at http://www.family.com and remain in beta, or testing, stages until the summer, said Paul Yanover, executive vice president of Disney Online, a unit of the Walt Disney Internet Group.

It sounds like something very similar to the current form of Club Mom- some established mommy bloggers, parenting experts, and information from other parents. The announcement comes tomorrow, so I look forward to checking it out when the site goes live.

It brings a new meaning to “mouse” and “computers.”

Disney, Disney Family site, Clubmom, Family.com, parentpedia

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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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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