Back-to-School Hacks

Even though my own son won’t need any of these tips for a while, I’ve been impressed by Lifehacker’s long list of back-to-school hacks. Whether it’s Top 10 Back to School Tools for the Organized Student, ways to Raise Your GPA, or Best Places to Find Deals on Textbooks, if you have a child in college (or even high school), there’s bound to be something of interest here. Might even be useful for us parents directly, whether we’re doing continuing ed or organizing our business lives.

If you have school-age kids, what is your family doing to prepare for the start of the school year? We’re trying to get out to some fun local sites before our son starts kindergarten. Other than making sure he has clean socks for the first day, I think that’s about all we have to do at this grade.

Online Activism in Parent Time

(Originally published with slight variation in Bay Windows, April 5, 2007.)

If there’s one thing almost all parents will agree on, it’s that parenting takes time. No matter how well-behaved our children, and how accommodating our partners, there is hardly a mom or dad around who would say she or he has more time now than before becoming a parent. One of the effects of this, for the LGBT community, is that those who have one of the strongest reasons to fight for LGBT rights have the least time to do so.

Becoming a parent doesn’t have to mean abandoning activism, though. With a little creativity and a dash of technology, we can find many quick ways to continue our contributions to the cause. Here are some ideas. Read the rest of this post »

Hood Hack

It seems like I’m perpetually running late for my son’s playgroups, music classes, and doctor’s appointments. Winter is the worst time for this. I always find myself torn between not being late and taking the time to let him learn to put on his own shoes, jacket, and mittens. He can sometimes get his jacket on by himself, but he can also spend several minutes whirling about, trying to catch the second sleeve. About half the time he ends up with the jacket upside down, sleeves the wrong way around, and we have to start over.

I’ve found one trick that can save a few minutes, though. If I simply hang the jacket hood on his head, it’s in the right position for him to get his arms in, and I don’t have to stand there holding it. He still feels like he’s doing it himself. I can put my own jacket on and be done just in time to zip him up.

Simple, but hey, it’s sometimes the simple things that get us through. Any other time-saving, child-dressing tricks you’ve found?

New CareSquare Social Network Connects Parents and Caregivers

New lesbian social networks like OurChart and Olivia.com are getting lots of publicity these days. More useful for us moms, however, may be a new community network for parents and caregivers of all orientations, CareSquare. Through the site, parents can find babysitters and nannys whom their friends recommend, then check availability and book services through an easy online calendar. Conversely, caregivers can enter their experience, skills, and availability, and connect with new families and jobs. CareSquare will also roll out a number of additional networking features for parents this spring—but the practicality of what they offer now is enough to make them stand out from the many other parenting networks.

Co-founder and CEO Ariel Kleckner Ford was kind enough to answer some questions for Mombian readers about her growing business. She’s a straight ally and mom who has taken active steps to ensure LGBT parents feel welcome in CareSquare’s online community. Read the rest of this post »

2007 Calendars Now In the Mombian Shop

The Mombian Shop now features a new Calendar section, in addition to recommended books, videos, toys and more for lesbian families. I’ve picked a selection of calendar themes likely to appeal to us dykes, including women artists and writers, cowgirls, softball players, motorcycles, and the “George W. Bush Out of Office Countdown.” There are also some calendars with puzzles and games, just for fun, and some just because they’re pretty.

Electronic calendars and PDAs are all well and good, and I’m entirely reliant on Google Calendar myself. Still, it’s often useful to have a calendar hanging in the kitchen, and a wall calendar is a great learning tool for teaching kids about time and dates. I’m not giving up on paper quite yet.

Save Time: Buy Non-Perishables Online Through Amazon

Amazon is now offering over 10,000 different non-perishable groceries online. This sounds useful for moms (and dads) in a number of ways:

• For hard-to-find items that local stores may not carry. Amazon has a good selection of natural and organic products, for example, as well as items like vegan and gluten-free foods. (My personal hard-to-find items are Huggies Overnites Diapers. I buy the regular ones at a local warehouse store, but have the darndest time finding the Overnites anywhere.)
• To make trips to the store faster when children are in tow, or you’re rushing to pick them up.
• Because if you’re like me, you’re ordering books from Amazon anyway, and groceries can help you qualify for free “super-saver” shipping. Who could resist the temptation to order a box of chocolate-chip cookies with the new novel?

Random trivia: The top-selling items in Amazon’s Grocery category right now are Raw Revolution Organic Live Food Bars. “Coconut and Chocolate” heads the list at number one, and three other flavors make the top ten.

This is a brand-spankin’ new service, so I haven’t yet done any price comparisons with my local stores. I suspect there will be times when convenience trumps all, regardless.

The Activist Parent

For me, one of the great pleasures from Blogging for LGBT Families Day has been reading posts that make me think. Matt over at The Q-Triad Blog wrote something that seems particularly appropriate today, as all the major (and many minor) American LGBT Web sites are urging us to contact our senators and stop the Federal Marriage Amendment.

Matt, who is not a parent, writes:

I can imagine that many LGBT families don’t have the time that I might have or other activists might have in order to play the political game and do all that activist-type things. I can imagine, from my experience of seeing my mom, that many LGBT parents are too busy taking care of their kids – feeding them, clothing them, taking them to and from school, extra-curriculars and sports – in order to take time off to go to dinners of LGBT advocacy groups or go to lobby days or go pimping out a petition to their local or state governments. I can imagine that thoughts and notions of equality and justice are secondary in the minds of many LGBT parents and that their partners and children are always first. . . .

The only thing I worry about, especially since I am now heading up a (small, but growing) advocacy group, is if these activists and groups are missing a very important and vital part of the LGBT and allied community? Are we hearing the voices of LGBT families and parents, or are we too busy with our jobs and families too busy with their family life to even cross paths?

It’s a good question. I’ll answer for myself, but urge you to leave comments here or on Matt’s blog with your own thoughts. Read the rest of this post »