Birds of a Feather

Becky from I'd Like to Buy a Vowel sent me this article from the New York Times which reported Hasbro planned to create a line of toys based upon the musical group "The PussyCat Dolls". I wanted to know why a company representative at Hasbro uttered the words "risque" and "6-9 year olds" in the same sentence to describe a product being made for little girls. I couldn't believe what I was reading! It looks like I was not alone in having ruffled feathers. Or maybe I should say there were a bunch of ruffled fathers who decided to take action.

Well done, Gentlemen!

Hasbro made the announcement today they are pulling the toy line from production.

We still have a couple of $ 64,000 questions...Why did anyone at Hasbro think this was a good idea in the first place? and Why didn't anyone who works for Hasbro pipe up and say "No. This is a terrible idea and we're not going to do that."

Next time you have a gut feeling go ahead and stand up, air your concern, bring attention to the issue, sans guilt. As demonstrated by the ruffled fathers, creating a flap, could cause a flip and thus prevent a flop.

Happy Mother's Day!

Aviva and I wish every family a Happy Mother's Day and read Tracy Thompson's "My Mother's Day Wish".

What was on your Mother's Day wish list?

Merry Month of May

May is going to be a busy month for Aviva and me. Please be sure you check our appearances page because events are being added almost daily! We will be appearing in three major magazines and a major newspaper during May and June. When the issues hit the newsstand, we will link them to our blog.

Next week I will be in Las Vegas where I have a book discussion and signing Tuesday May 9 at 7PM at Barnes & Noble. No reservations necessary! Come one and come all! First person to tell me you came to the event because you read about it on our blog gets a drink from the B&N Cafe'- my treat!


If you live in the Washington DC area, we have two events on May 13. The first is the Beltway Babies Mother's Day Brunch, and the other is Mamapalooza in DC! Here are the details. Aviva and I are thankful for the support of Joy Rose, the founder of Mamapalooza, and Patrice Moerman, the event coordinator for Mamapalooza DC, have given to us! Make sure to check out...

Joy , Housewives on Prozac

and

Patrice http://www.patricemoerman.com/

In addition to being a gifted songwriter, Patrice also teaches guitar lessons for children. Think about dancing and singing in your kitchen with your own child playing the songs. Now that is what we call having fun as a family!

Amazon Women

Hey I just noticed something new. Our Amazon.com page has been changed. Our book, Mommy Guilt, is now is now paired with The Truth Behind the Mommy Wars: Who Decides What Makes A Good Mother by Miriam Peskowitz. This is awesome! Miriam's book touches on issues pertinent to parents from a macro perspective (societal, employment. Policy, etc.) while ours deals with many of the same issues on a micro level (individual, work, family, etc.) and we completely agree out books are "better together" as all of us can relate to the big and little challenges we have in our lives as parents.

After exchanging books and reading them, Devra, Miriam and I realized immediately how very much our books compliment one another. Now it appears Amazon.Com figured it out too!

Addendum: Need to point out that Becky from I'd Like to buy a vowel, was the first person who told us about The Truth Behind the Mommy Wars. Becky had read our book and Miriam's and urged Devra to get in touch with Miriam and offer a book exchange. I am looking forward to meeting Miriam in real life too. Can't let Devra have all the fun. And a big shout out to Becky for being our Yente!

Second Addendum: Go check out www.MomsRising.org and please sign the petition to end the Mommy Wars rhetoric: Put your Joan Hancock HERE!
and while you are there , check out this page for a couple of names which may be familiar to our readers.

Seeing 3AM

Most of us know that for a parent to be up at 3AM someone in the house is probably needing a dose of Tylenol or possibly a little back rub to coax a kid back to sleep. (Or maybe you are up because you have been receiving a back rub by another grown up and....) At any rate, it's not an hour I myself often find myself returning to my house, but this is exactly what happened on the evening of MotherTalk.

Being in a room with over 50 moms (and one RebelDad) listening to Marion, Miriam and Andi read from their essays found in It's A Girlis something all of us need to do. We all need to get together and talk about the trials, tribulations and especially the joy of parenting as much as we possibly can. As each woman shared their essays, I watched the expressions of the mothers in the room as they took in what they were hearing. Marion read an excerpt from her 1996 book The Lunch-box Chronicles . I realized the first time I read that book my son was a little over a year old and I had skimmed the parts of the book which describes parenting older kids. Suffice it to say, I came home and dug out the book again for a second read!

don't' dismiss the idea of reading Andi's book It's a Girl because you only have a son or two, let me put that thought to rest. Being that I am a daughter, I was intrigued by the essays written by mothers of daughters. I found it intriguing as to what my own mother may have been feeling/thinking about having a daughter. So if you are a daughter, this is reason enough to read the book!

Another benefit of attending a MotherTalk is who you might find after you mill around with the other attendees. Tracy Thompson, added wonderful insights to the discussion, it was also pleasure to meet the mother behind the blog Half Changed World. Elizabeth and I shared a conversation which she in turn blogged about here. The Internet is so vast yet still we find one another. Amazing!