by anitafaye

I love the newsletters that come in the mail this time of year and I don't understand how they ever got to be the butt of sitcom jokes. I was worried that email and websites might slow the flow of information that comes inside Christmas mailers once a year, but so far so good.  They're arriving on schedule and to me they're irreplaceable.

That was what someone told me at a child's birthday party last week.  As the parent of an only child I've heard many stupid, thoughtless remarks from other parents but this one took the cake....I just had to vent about it here.  You see, I made the mistake of engaging one of the other parents in what I thought was going to be a harmless, plesant conversation.  I paid a father a compliment on his identical twin sons, I told him that they were so well behaved and sat so patiently while the cake was handed out.  They were dear little boys.  The father then launched into a tirade about "What a handful" they are and that before he had them that he only had one child...like me.  And that, "Having one kid is easy.  Having three is a whole different story.  That's when you know you're a real parent - when you have more than one!" 

by Mom101

This week I got an email addressed to me at Cool Mom Picks, the shopping blog that I co-founded, and it nearly broke my heart.

We are just winding down a (for the most part) highly successful family vacation out on the West Coast. I say successful because if there ever was a situation that was ripe for disaster this was it: a shared household of 12 family members, complete with a nightly dinner rotation and an informal chore sharing structure. Oh, and 5 of those people are children ranging in age from 16 months to 16 years. And oh yeah, my two boys (aged 4 and 5) are "rambunctious." I guess that's the kind way to describe it.

Considering our bleak economy (or at least that's what the media war drum keeps beating), the war and all the job losses this past year, I made it very clear to many of our friends that we are no longer exchanging gifts for Christmas & Hanuhkah.  I explained that not only were we doing it for monetary reasons but to reduce stress levels (mine, as I do ALL the shopping) and to emphasize "less is more" for our children (or at least my child).  I explained that we'd much rather spend time with our friends and loved ones this holiday season (and from now on) rather than money.