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Posts Tagged ‘parenting’
My balancing act - a parenting personality with a professional personality
I’m now the mom of two boys, one is three and a half, the other is just over five months old. They are truly brothers – the little one follows the big one around with only his eyes right now but as soon as that baby is mobile I think I will know where to find him every waking minute, right at his brother’s side. Fortunately, his older brother is still very tolerant and loving. In fact, about two weeks ago I came around the corner from the kitchen to see big bro leaning over little bro with a grin and he said, “Mommy, I licked his tongue!” Ewww, I thought, and replied “Ewww!” But, I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, that kid is a licker. When he was two, he licked a climb-on-cow-jumped-over-the-moon statue from horns to tail at our local shopping mall. Oh, the joys of kids.
Over the past couple years since becoming a parent myself, I’ve enjoyed lots of blogs in the loosely-based category of parenting. While on leave, I also greatly enjoyed the book, It’s A Boy: Women Writers on Raising Sons. It’s a collection of essays so it’s easily read in those few spare moments of time you have while caring for a new baby. Blogs entries are similar to essay collections because they can be read in small parts as you have time.
- dooce.com (language warning)
Dooce is a great writer with a touching often poignant monthly newsletter to her daughter, who is about four months older than my oldest son. It’s fun to read and always makes me laugh. - Dotmoms
This site collects essays from several moms from all walks of life and gives me good perspective on parenting older children, situational parenting, and so on. - Babygadget
This site has just plain cool baby stuff, both decorative and functional, and I love to browse it. - Bloggingbaby
I’ve watched this site change over the past few years and I’ve appreciated some of their writers, especially a series of interviews with working and non-working moms. I often forward items from this site to my mom friends to get their “take” on whatever issue they’re discussion. Although it does slip into celeb baby gossip, I still read it on occasion. - Mimi Smartypants (language warning)
This mom writer is another just plain funny person with a sometimes bizarre and wonderful outlook on life. Her daughter is probably a year older than my eldest so it’s fun to see what’s potentially next for me. - The Baby Name Wizard Blog
This author wrote the hands-down best baby naming book ever, The Baby Name Wizard. It’s the only baby name book with sibling name suggestions that she culled from a database algorithm of baby names. And it is amazing how some names really do group well together. I don’t plan on having more kids but if I did I’d be consulting this book again. - DaddyTypes
This blog has many writers, all dads, with an often hilarious and sometimes foreign-to-me approach to parenting. Definitely has a NYC bent to it but I enjoy it.
Unlike these parenting-themed blogs, with my TalkBMC blog, I try to hit the balance of professional but with just a touch of personality. So thanks for indulging more of the personality than professional with this post. I won’t try to tie today’s theme into information technology, business service management, or information design, but I do want to say it’s great to be back blogging regularly again.
Celebrating moms and parenthood in the workplace
We celebrated Mother’s Day in the U.S. yesterday, and I came across an article that I enjoyed. I thought I’d share in celebratation of moms and parents everywhere.
This USA Today article, Do moms make better managers? is a great read because it is brutally honest about both sides of the argument. (In case you’re wondering, the answer is, “It depends.”) My favorite observation from the article is the gender-bias-free one, which is, “You are the sum of your life experiences.” For me, working full-time while going to graduate school was a life experience that taught me how to prioritize and get more done on less sleep. The same can be said for me as a mom of a two-year old, get the important tasks done early (and know what’s important, as in, don’t sweat the small stuff.) To me, the funniest quote from the article is this one:
Denise Morrison, president of Campbell Soup’s U.S. soup, sauces and beverages division, worked while her daughters, 27 and 25, were growing up - and while Nestlé’s director of marketing, she was still able to squeeze in a stint as Brownie leader. “They were a results-driven Brownie troop,” she says.
Hee hee. Thanks, Diane, for sharing this gem!
Looks like Peter Armstrong is feeling like a proud parent when it comes to BSM. Yes! We’re all feeling that way with these new workflows and product integrations and Atrium CMDB maturation. Plus, the third-party integrations are getting really exciting.
Even salary.com is in the spirit, with a new calculator called the Mom Salary Wizard, as described in this article, Being a mom could be a 6-figure job.
Parent or not, paid or not, life experience, however and whenever we get it, is what I’ll celebrate today.
