On Women and Guilt
Another smart post from our friends at Role/Reboot. -Eds. I’m on the board of a small, parenting-related nonprofit organization, a board comprised of smart, thoughtful women who are mostly mothers of small children (and one dad, though our father pool is growing). In addition to our full-time parenting jobs, pretty much all of us have [...]
Stand Up for REAL Food – Twinkies Aren’t Breakfast
Of course you don’t serve your kids Twinkies or Chips Ahoy! cookies for breakfast. But many of us are serving our kids just as much – or more – sugar every day in the good ol’ American cereal bowl. How much? See how bad it really is in Environmental Working Group’s new report, Sugar in [...]
What’s Safe and What’s Not? How Toys Stack Up
by Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff Executive Director/CEO Healthy Child Healthy World www.healthychild.org Have you checked your toy list twice? Wait, let me rephrase that: Have you checked the list of what’s in your toys twice? I just discovered the toy database at HealthyStuff.org, which ranks more than 20,000 toys or toy components, organized from “none” to [...]
We Can Do Better When it Comes to the Overmedication of America’s Children
Overmedication of America’s children is a real and growing problem. The rate at which powerful antipsychotic drugs are being administered to kids has increased by an alarming 500% over the last 15 years, and there is not enough research to understand all the physical and behavioral consequences for kids’ health. What we do know is [...]
The Safe Patient Project: Why I’m Involved
I am a member of Consumers Union’s Safe Patient Project. Why? My son died from poor medical care when he was just 11 days old. There were many lapses in my son’s medical care. Now, I work for safe care to reach the newborn bedside. After all, the infant mortality rate is a common measure of a country’s health. [...]
My Holiday Wish: Labeling on Genetically Engineered Foods
The holidays can be like candy canes-they’re sticky, they’re sweet, with a whole lot of little surprises. But worrying about the ingredients in candy canes is the last thing any parent wants to have to think about at this time of year. Yet with the growing number of children with diabetes, obesity, allergies, and [...]
Non-toxic Tips for Winter Coughs & Colds
I used to catch every cold that came into town. Office colds? Check. Office colds from my boyfriend’s office? Colds from family/friends/strangers schools/offices/jousting tournaments? Check, check, check. My winters were a series of tissue boxes, cough syrups, and congested mutterings that could be summed up as “This again?” or “Oh come on nose. Get it [...]
The Holiday Season: A Survival Guide
For years I would wake up at 5:30 in the morning every Black Friday, leaving the kids with my mother-in-law, and get to the mall by 6:15 am. Every year, I would return six or seven hours later, loaded down with presents, and my mother-in-law would say, “There you are! I took care of your [...]
Call Today to #Extend UI!
Can You Call Congress Today to #ExtendUI!? Time is short. Unless Congress acts now to renew federal unemployment insurance, nearly 2 million people will be cut off in the month of January alone. Millions more would have this critical lifeline cut off in the near future – over 6 million would lose these benefits during [...]
Power on our plates
When my daughter was in kindergarten, she would inspect her friends’ strawberries at lunchtime. “No no, you don’t want to eat that,” she would solemnly inform them. “It’s not organic. It might have yucky chemicals on it.” Yucky chemicals indeed. Studies continue to pile up showing how pesticides on food can be harmful, especially to [...]
Toward a Two-Generation Strategy: Voices of American Families
Focus Group Results on Low-Income Parents’ Aspirations for Themselves and Their Children As America struggles to regain its economic footing, the nation’s most vulnerable families — parents of young children who live at 200% of poverty or less — express strong feelings of frustration and disappointment with their lives today, but they are working hard [...]
American Moms: Unsung Heroes of a Bad Economy
American mothers are hard-hit by the tough economy, with 42 percent more women than men living in poverty and single moms especially vulnerable. Yet women work valiantly to sustain families, and remain thankful that they can manage at all. In a new study on American families released today, the toll of tough times is painfully [...]
Snow, Sparkles, and…MomsVote 2012!
Snow, sparkles, winter light, and… voting? Wait a minute. What does voting have to do with the holidays?! This holiday season at MomsRising we’re announcing the launch of…. drum roll please…. …MomsVote 2012! And we need your support, your help, your good wishes, and all of your holiday cheer to help launch MomsVote 2012 [...]
5 Green Shipping Tips for Your Holiday Gifts
Wrapping up your holiday shopping? It’s time to start wrapping and sending out those gifts! Try these top five green (and easy!) shipping tips: Green shipping options: When you’re shopping online, pay close attention to your shipping options. Many companies now give you the option to ship goods with less packaging and to bundle packages [...]
Thanks Health Care Law! 2.5 Million Young Adults Gain Health Coverage Through the Affordable Care Act
It’s not hard to understand why the recent announcement that 2.5 million young adults have gained coverage through the Affordable Care Act is a big deal (this large gain is due to a provision in the law that went into effect on September 23, 2010 and allows adult children without access to job-based coverage the [...]
Your urgent action needed in Mass!
Guess what? Right now state legislators are meeting in Boston to determine their legislative priorities for the New Year. That makes right now the perfect time to send your state legislators a quick note urging them to resolve to pass the Mass paid sick days bill in 2012! http://action.momsrising.org/letter/ma_psd_12_14/ The MA paid sick days bill [...]
The heroes among us.
Something really amazing has been happening. Amidst the bickering in Washington D.C., some voices are rising above the din. And guess what? They’re ours!! MomsRising members from around the country have been raising our voices, sharing our personal stories, sending in messages to leaders, and… even winning! Moms like Desiree Rosado from Connecticut who shared [...]
Play the Game of Obamacare
A few weeks ago, I wrote about our Thanks, Obamacare campaign and why exactly we are saying Thanks, Obamacare! Today, I am writing to tell you that we launched an exciting new feature on our website, the Game of Obamacare! As you spin the wheel to advance through life, you’ll be asked to make important decisions [...]
I’m Volunteering My Story
As I pecked away at my laptop on a 6:30am flight to Atlanta, I took a moment to reflect on the three tasks I just completed long before I landed to start my day job. First, I reviewed the budget projections for Lafayette Elementary School’s 2nd grade class to assess if we were on track [...]
A Glimmer of Good News for California’s Kids
With the state’s unemployment rate hovering above 11 percent, impending state budget triggers that are inciting rallies across the state, and 52% growth in health insurance premiums for California families over nearly the past decade, it’s hard to find truly good news…but here’s some: at a time when the economic recession hit hardest (2008 to [...]