SUNSHINE, a Karen Skloss’ film about the changing face of motherhood, airs on Tuesday, May 4, 2010 at 10:00pm on the PBS series Independent Lens. The movie is about how being an unwed mother has changed over the decades. Even 30-40 years ago, young unwed moms were sent away in secret to give birth rather than “disgracing” their families.
Sunshine examines those changes from the Scarlet Letter of unwed motherhood and society’s perceptions of family to today’s single moms through the story of Karen’s own life. Karen and her ex-boyfriend co-parent her daughter, Jasmine.
You can check out a trailer of the …read more

By Mary Jo Rapini
Teens are advertising their relationships out in public all the time. Go to Facebook or MySpace and you can see whom they are dating, whom they formerly dated, and basically everything they have done in the past month. It is scary, especially if that teen happens to be yours.
Even when your child goes to college, they will be showing their personal life to everyone they accept as their friend (don’t feel bad if your friendship status is ignored, it happens to all of us). I like my privacy as many other people do and I am not …read more

We all know about the problems with childhood obesity around our country. And this upcoming week, KID HEALTHY-Steps to Healthy Living will kick off their 2010 campaign in the first of many daily 10,000 step walks. Over 100,000 Southern California 4th and 5th graders will take part in the initiative, challenging themselves and adults to walk 10,000 steps.
The students will track their steps, keep food logs and encourage the rest of their families to exercise and eat healthy.
The KID HEALTHY Nutrition Education Material and Activity Plan, which was founded by ABC7, closely mirrors First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move Campaign. …read more

Today, millions of teens and preteens are setting up their own facebook page and chatting amongst their friends. Of course this also means they are venting out their frustrations which sometimes means they may speak how they feel about a person, accuse a person or say bad things about someone. Now exactly when should a teen or anyone be held accountable for what they say on Facebook?
With the more and more we become a global society we are using our “Freedom of Speech” all over the internet. But now we are being faced with the question on how much “Freedom …read more

For the past several years my family has been going through upheaval. The death of both of my parents (my kids were very close to them, and they lived quite nearby), a business going under, debt, my husband becoming disabled,  me taking on a career for the first time ever (I had always just been MOM)….then my separation and divorce..a new man in my life and upcoming marriage…. and the fallout from the church we have considered home for 20 years.
I have always been a very honest and upfront person, and try to be real. And yet, in all of …read more

As ya’ll know I sometimes get email from readers that don’t want their name left in the comments section as it would reveal identity and sometimes they email me their questions. (homemom3@gmail.com) Today, I’m bringing her question to you since I thought so many would have an opinion on this it could help her or even you.
Problem: The reader has children (not her own) and since they came to live with her she’s found one common issue with the preschooler. He is constantly throwing fits, ignoring and hitting his older sibling. She would like to know how to stop this?
My …read more

My friend is in the process of adopting her 15-month old grandson, a child she’s never seen except in pictures. 
 This will make great changes in her husband’s and her lives, but she doesn’t want the child raised by strangers.
Another friend is raising two grandchildren, a third grader and seventh grader.  They have been with her for eight years, so her life has changed from what she once thought she would experience as a grandparent. 
My husband and I aren’t raising grandchildren alone.  However, we’ve been part of a multigenerational home for a number of years, with two grandchildren living with us.  …read more

Having had no younger siblings, and actually not having been around children that much, I was in semi shock when my first oh-so-angelic child had what can only be called a “demonic episode worthy of Linda Blair”. Her head rotated, her eyes widened, an evil countenance appeared on her face…and she fell to the floor limply and began screaming. Obviously she was limp because all of her energy was being expended between her lungs and her vocal chords.

“Get up!” I hissed “I will do ANYTHING, just get up”.
Not the way to handle it. Over a period of time I learned …read more

Hyper-parent, micro-managing parent, controlling parent…these are terms I’ve seen for the parent who manages their children’s lives so the youngsters will have the best record for college or resume for future jobs. 
Children aren’t allowed simply to have free play, free time and opportunities to use their own ideas.
They’re enrolled into play schools, pre-schools, then have their school and after school activities monitored to make sure they’re experiencing the “best” opportunities that will advance them in life.  The parents seem to live their lives through their children and compete with other parents to give their youngsters better and better opportunities. 
Not that …read more

I was recently sent the movie, “Motherhood” which stars Uma Thurman and after reviewing it I couldn’t help but recommend it to all my neighbors. To me this was a funny view of being a mom, but it had a lot of reality to it as well. I mean how many of us (moms or dads) have had those big dreams that we just put off to the side while raising the kids? Now we dont’ do this intentionally but it happens. Right?  (you can read more about my review of Motherhood here) This is called being a parent.
I won’t lie, …read more