Why Parenting With a Smartphone Isn’t Bad Parenting

I love this Time Magazine (online) article aptly written by Rachel Simmons, co-founder of Girls Leadership Institute and the author of the New York Times bestsellers Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls and The Curse of the Good Girl: Raising Authentic Girls with Courage and Confidence. I read it like three times! LOL!

Even her article’s sub-title is an awesome slogan: “Here’s why being on your phone doesn’t make you a bad parent.”

She writes that a lot of journalists and would-be parenting experts are asking parents to stop using their phones in front of their kids. “They say it makes kids feel less loved, and teaches the wrong lessons about how to use devices.” Her answer? “No. Noooooo. Noooooooooooooooo.” Hahaha!

Simmons says parenting can be boring, like when you’re pushing a stroller the entire morning which is similar to watching paint dry. “Hell yes I’m going to be on my phone.”

Another quip is not to make her daughter the center of her attention the entire day. “My daughter’s name is Estee, not Lady Mary, and I am not her valet, at her beck and call.”

Other reasons Simmons writes in her article are titles “My kid could use some space” and “I have a job.” In the end, it’s a matter of balancing the act and the practicalities of using your phone and parenting. “Instead of telling me everything I’m doing wrong as a mom, it’d be nice if someone cut me a break and told me what I’m doing right. It’s enough to make you want to find a volleyball for company.” – You have to read her article to understand what the volleyball is all about.

Source: Not Without My Smartphone: The Case for Somewhat Distracted Parenting by Rachel Simmons via Time.com.

Photo by futurestreet at Flickr.com.

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Celebrity Dad Hugh Jackman Lets His Family Choose Film Roles

Hugh Jackman horses around with his kids at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia

The 43-year-old Hollywood celebrity icon of the X-Men fame admits that his family usually picks his movie role. Though fame and fortune usually conflicts with parenthood, he and his wife Deb always try never to be apart from their children more than two weeks, regardless if Jackman needs to fly long-haul flights or long drives. He says that he discovered a wonderful ability to carry on for months without sleep while being with his kids on and off the set.

Jackman started his career in an Australian TV called Correlli and from then on went to become the famous Wolverine in the X-Men movie series, Kate and Leopold where he was nominated a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor, Van Helsing and the recent box-office hit Real Steel, to name a few.

The Australian-born Jackman met his Australian wife Deborra-Lee Furness in an Australian TV show and has been married to her for 15 years. After two miscarriages, the couple decided to adopt two children, son Oscar (born 2000) and daughter Ava (born 2005). Furness is also an actress but devotes more of her time to causes and organizations like The Rafiki Society in Vancouver which she co-founded, National Adoption Awareness Week in Australia, the Lighthouse Foundation for displaced children in Melbourne Australia, and many others.

Sources: Daily Record | Wikipedia 1, 2

Photo by hollywoodkids at Flickr.com

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Husbands Are More Under Pressure by Marriage Gems

My kids and me

I’ve been a subscriber of “Marriage Gems” and would recommend Lori’s blog for your habitual reading on parenting and parenthood. For today, it’s a topic us men can relate, to wit, “Are Husbands under More Pressure than Ever?

Here are a few quips to her newest article:

Experts are now saying working fathers are experiencing the most pressure in families, even families in which both spouses work.

This is the final discussion of the research coming out of Time Magazine’s August issue. It shares a report by the Families and Work Institute, which surveyed 1,298 men.

Men who are experiencing overwhelming stresses should discuss their feelings with their wives in a way that is not accusatory.

Read more at Marriage Gems

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Are Parenthood and Facebook incompatible?

Photo by davidgilmour at Flickr.com

The old adage of leaving work in the office and coming home as a parent and a spouse is now competing with today’s cannabis of the internet – social media. Here are some quips about a Mom who struggled between good parenting and Facebook:

I love to be informed, to read about what other people are thinking or feeling, and the Internet became my vehicle for doing just that. Except it had become a nasty habit I secretly felt guilty about. Since I believe in the notion that if you feel guilty, you probably are, I knew something was wrong.

That was the day I knew I had to switch things up. I spent way too much time knocking around the net and way too little time planning my days and playing with my kids. So I determined what I had to do on the Internet and when I could do it. I delegated certain times of the day for work and for play. I stuck with the plan and it all went peachy — for a while.

To read more, go to Jamie Bissot’s Blog

Single Parenting is a Financial Challenge

The Economic Times came out with an article today entitled “Economics of Single Parenting” where the author espouses a quote on the gist of parenthood:

Parents try their best to provide all the necessary resources and opportunities to children. Good upbringing of children is a dream of every parent. But, this dream comes with a price tag and it then becomes the duty of parents to plan in advance for future finances in this regard.

It is critical that parents, single parents or families where only one parent receives an income, plan for the future multiple expenses of a family financed by a single income. One of these is to Build a Contingency fund that fills the gap on unplanned things. Another is Home rentals or mortgages. It also talks about Insurance — life, health, emergency illness or disabilities — something that many Filipinos do not think is important considering that only about 10% of the population have life insurance [Insurance Commission, 2006 circular]. Many overseas and migrant Filipinos still carry this notion in other countries where their purchasing power to buy insurance has increased.

Three other items of discussion by the article include Investments, Appointing a Guardian or Nominee and Drafting A Will.

Read more of this interesting article at The Economic Times.