Bridging the Communication Divide with Blogging, an interview with Vicky Hennegan of Remarkable Parents

July 25th, 2008 mlovings

It’s been a while since our last parent interview - so hello everyone! Hopefully everyone is enjoying the summer and finding some time (and extra gas change) to enjoy some time off with their families. Before you skip off to enjoy another weekend, I’m extremely pleased to introduce the following interview with Vicky Hennegan of Remarkable Parents.

Vicky definitely provides some food for thought as to why “blogging” and other new Web technologies are helping to form new bonds between parents and their children in a manner that touches people today and in the future. Even if you know a lot about technology, take a moment to read Vicky’s comments because there will be a parent out there you’ll want to share this with. Thank you, Vicky.

MacKenzie:  You say on your site that the internet is the great equalizer between generations. Can you expand on this and give an example where you’ve personally experienced this happening?

Vicky: My 18 year old daughter Kay will be heading off to college in the fall.  Like every parent my feelings are somewhat conflicted.  I want her to discover who she is as a young adult and to experience life on her own.  I am worried that now that she’s 18, she may feel that it’s a failure of her new found adulthood to come to me with her problems.

Keeping in touch with her while she’s hundreds of miles away is one of our family’s upcoming challenges.  I’m not a helicopter parent (one who hovers closely overhead), I don’t expect nor do I want to hamper her experience of being on her own person.  I just want to be in the loop, have an idea of what and how she is doing, and know that she’s safe.

A few friends who’ve children have gone off to college have prepared me that that college students don’t devote a lot of time to keeping in touch.  I know she has good intentions to  keep in touch, but realisticly I should be prepared to feel left out.  To bridge this communication divide we have been talking about ways we can keep in touch.  We don’t plan on using only the telephone, we also plan on using IM (instant messaging), Email, Twitter, Facebook, and Skype.   Kay already uses these technologies and so do I.  This will make keeping in touch so much easier. As you can see in the print screens below, you can send extremely short updates and messages, which is very convenient.  I have included some examples so you can see a little of what I mean and a short definition.

• IM - Instant Messaging   This is realtime text communication that takes place between two or more people through their computers over the internet.
• Email   The ability to send, receive, and store written messages in an electronic format within a software application.
• Twitter   A free social networking application that allows users to create updates that can be up to 140 characters and they are sent to the timeline of the friends that have ‘followed’.

• Facebook   A free social networking application that allows user to join networks based on interests, city or location, or other criteria where people socially interact with others.  They can also email and invite friends that will then have access to their profile, status updates, and whatever else that is public is on that individuals Facebook page.

• Skype   Software that allows ujsers to make free telephone calls over the internet between 2 Skype users on the computer.  Video telephone calls are also available if the participants have web cameras.

 
It’s really fairly simple and easy to get started with these web-based applications. One of the goals of Remarkable Parents is to introduce our readers to new technology and demonstrate how they can use this technology to effectively communicate, be more productive, and use their time more efficiently. 

People are already using these same technologies for communicating with their familys, in their career, and to stay in touch with friends & extended family.  The concept of using the same technology for multiple functions in our lives is one of the most effective uses of technology.  When you are already familiar with how to use the application it isn’t hard to apply small changes for different situations, this is the type of win-win-win scenario that we like to demonstrate to our readers!

MacKenzie:  What is the most incredible or satisfying aspect of writing or managing your own blog?

Vicky: The most satisfying aspect of the web site is having planned the overall vision of the site for so long and seeing that vision implemented.  When the first article Who Taught My Kid That Four Letter Word? was published, along with the web design which I really love, I felt  amazing, absolutely amazing and I really haven’t come down yet.

MacKenzie:   For any mom who is new to the blogosphere and social networking, can you offer a quick how to get started list to help ladies get engaged?

Vicky: I purposely put some links, print screens, and definitions in the first question, so the ladies can go to those sites to get more information on those technologies.

Steps torwards technology and social media use

1. Email  Sign up for an email account.  Most email accounts are free.  I suggest using Gmail.  Google’s Gmail has has one of the best spam blocking engines that will block most spam and make your experience much nicer (a second choice would be Yahoo).
2. Search Engines  Google is by far the most popular search engine and is also free. When you are searching you can use individual words for your search criteria or you can use phrases enclosed by quotes (a second choice would be DogPile).  This phrase will search for pages that Google has indexed that have these three words many times anywhere on the page.   

     

This phrase will search for pages that Google has indexed that have the phrase ’small breed’ (must be the entire phrase) and the other word anywhere on the page.



3. Social Network  Join a social network all the ones listed below are free, you can choose just one to start. (Twitter requires the least maintanance)
   • Linked-In   A professional, business orientated social networking site.  You can falso use Linked-In Answers which are where questions posed and users who are experts or have specific knowledge in an area answers.   That’s a really nice feature.
   • Facebook   There are a lot of little add ons available for Facebook.  This is more of a social site that offers you a lot of options for customizing it and the ability to add photos, video’s, hyperlinks, join networks or mini organizations, and people can leave you messages by writing on your wall.
   • Twitter   Twitter is a hard social networking site to describe.  You socialize by adding followers and then conversating with them.  If they also follow you, you will see their end of all their conversations, which lets you find others in the same industry, with similar interests, or others that just seem fun.  A tweet is a message under 140 characters long.

You can use a search engine to search for douments about these services.  You may want to use the word ‘beginner’ in your search criteria.

4. Bookmarking   Join a bookmarking service like del.iscio.us which is free.  You can find pages on web sites that you’d like to read or reference again later.  You save the bookmark that points to that web.  You can also assign tags to the bookmark which puts bookmarks of the same type of content  together.  Most web browsers have bookmarks, but they are associated with a particular computer.  Del.iscio.us bookmarks are on the web, you can access them where ever you have an internet connection. You also can look at other peoples bookmarks.  Many teachers and other professionals share bookmarks this way.  You can even save a bookmark for someone else.  Each bookmark.
5. Passwords   All these sites will require a login and password.  Many will have a little box that you can check that says ‘remember my password’.  If you check this box everytime your computers browser goes to that applications page, it will automatically login to your account.  If multiple people use the same computer, you may not want to have it automatically login to your account.  A good idea is to have about three different passwords you regularly use like ‘apple1′, ‘crazy8′, and ‘gr8est’  (try to put one number in your passwords, it’s more secure from hackers) and rotate between them.  This way if you forget which password is for which application, you only have 3 to try. 

MacKenzie: If moms could learn one technology this year, what would you say it should be?

Vicky: I would have to say that it would depend on the individual mom and their family’s needs. 

If you need to communicate with your kids while your at work and they’re at home, I would say get two webcams, headphones w/ mics and use Skype or you could use IM.

If you are lonely, want to crowd source advice, or make new friends I would say Twitter.

If you will be soon changing jobs, finishing school and want to either get a job or network with others in your same profession, I would say Linked-In.

If you do a lot of research and need to have quick access to the documents you are using or if you need to stay up-to-date on a specific topic (try to add people to your network that have the same interests, I would say del.iscio.us.

If you are willing to spend a little time, want to connect with old friends, join networks or organizations for a particular subject, I would say Facebook.

I also wanted to share that Remarkable Parents is beginning a 6 Part Series of Articles at the end of the month, sharing basic but more thorough information on 6 “must have” software applications.  I think this would be very good information for anyone starting out.  You can go to the website and sign up to receive the articles in your email box, it is located under the ‘About Vicky H’ box.

MacKenzie: Your site is asthetically pleasing want to offer kudos into anyone in particular?

Vicky: The web designer for Remarkable Parents is Randa Clay.  We worked remotely as I am in Wisconsin and she is in Texas.  The relationship did work well for us and it wasn’t a problem that she didn’t live in the same state.  I am amazed at how well she got the concepts and my vision for the site.   Randa has done a case study on many of the steps we took and tips  that clients can use to translate their vision to the designer.

Someone who also helped me considerably was Chris Garrett who was handled some of the more technical issues and helped me develop and organize my vision for the site.  Chris lives in the United Kingdom, so we used Skype for many of our sessions.

Posted in Blogger Interviews, Educating Our Kids, Moms and the Internet, Social Media Technology, Technology and Relationships | 18 Comments »

“Isn’t Community the Real Reason We Do This Anyway?” Interview with Christina, A Mommy Story

May 15th, 2008 mlovings

As we continue to learn more about why moms are passionate about blogging and the legacy they hope to leave their children, today we share insights from Christina of A Mommy Story. Christina, a “mom to Cordy the Amazon Warrior Princess and infant Mira, and devoted wife to an actor/writer,” offers her thoughts on the following questions…

GEOFF: The parent blogosphere is extremely diverse. You recently wrote about the different levels of prosperity resulting from ads, etc in this corner of the blogosphere. How does this impact parent bloggers?

CHRISTINA: I think the new monetization of parent blogs has been both beneficial and harmful. Many parent bloggers are now turning their hobby into part-time businesses - or just coffee money - through ads and paid blogging jobs. It’s great that this is now a viable option for parents who stay home with their kids, allowing them to contribute to the family income and feel that what they are doing has some worth (as businesses would see it) outside of their own family. PR firms are also contacting parent bloggers to offer free products to review and trips, such as the recent Johnson & Johnson Camp Baby trip. The opinions of parent bloggers are now sought after by several corporations.

But at the same time, while there is money to be made, few will make a significant amount of money from blogging, and not everyone can go on the trips or get the cool products to review. This has resulted in both jealousy and a lot of newer bloggers wanting to immediately monetize their blogs in the hopes of being the next Dooce. There are a few people who have the uniqueness and/or luck to be a big hit right away, but for most, the path to successful monetization involves hard work, quality writing, and community building. And isn’t community the real reason we all do this, anyway?

GEOFF: Tell us about the parent blogger scene in Ohio? Is it unique, or just another part of the country?

CHRISTINA: At first glance, it may not look like there are a lot of parent bloggers in Ohio. It took me a little while to find any, but since then I’ve met several, some of whom are now good friends of mine. I don’t know if the Ohio bloggers are a quieter group than most or if many of them just haven’t been discovered by the general population yet, but there are some excellent writers here in Ohio. I predict you’ll be seeing a lot more from several of them in the coming year.

GEOFF: In your mind, how does A Mommy Story contribute to the conversation?

CHRISTINA: When I started blogging, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to add to the conversation. My daughter was a year old, and I was a new mom who desperately needed a community of other moms to tell me that the frustrations and joys I was experiencing were totally normal. I spent much of the first year trying to find my voice, a voice I’m still not completely sure of. At the moment, I consider myself one of the voices of reason, trying to tackle controversial topics without letting the passion of my opinion cloud my argument. My How To Be a Popular Mommyblogger post was written after I’d seen far too much complaining about how some people got all the trips and money and other bloggers got nothing. I felt that people needed to stop and think for a moment about why some were getting all of the “perks” and that maybe it was because they earned it.

A Mommy Story is where I can share whatever is on my mind, whether it be about my kids, parenting, or trying to keep my identity beyond that of “mommy”. I also blog about the struggles of raising a daughter with autism. It was a diagnosis that, in some ways, caught me by surprise last year, and since then I’ve answered questions for so many others who worry that their child might have a developmental delay of some kind. Knowing I can help others with my writing makes those more painful posts easier to write, and tells me that what I’m doing is worth every second I put into it.

GEOFF: What could you leave behind in the parent blogosphere?

CHRISTINA: I’m hoping that someday my daughters will read my writing and get a better sense of who their mom is. As a child, there’s so much we don’t understand about our parents. But having the chance to see what I struggled with, what made me happy, and how I felt about them when they were young will hopefully help them see me as a woman who has her own interests and dreams as well as their mom, who has shaped her life around them. I also hope others will find what I’ve written years from now and see it as one of many accounts of motherhood at the turn of the century. What we blog today will be the memoirs that historians look through someday.

GEOFF: What do you hope your children will get out of social media?

CHRISTINA: Well, they’re still a little young to even browse the internet, so it’ll still be a few years. I hope they’ll listen to me and learn how social media can be used to their advantage without falling prey to the dark side. (Geez, I sound like a Jedi Master.) I want them to find their communities, build relationships, educate themselves and have fun. But I also hope I can teach them to not over share information and make themselves too vulnerable to others.

A Mommy Story can be found at: http://amommystory.blogspot.com/

Posted in Blogger Interviews, Moms and the Internet | 3 Comments »

ParentPower Interview with Stefania Pomponi Butler of CityMama and Kimchi Mamas

May 13th, 2008 mlovings

Geoff had the pleasure of interviewing Stefania Pomponi Butler today - professional writer and blog editor/producer of CityMama AND Kimchi Mamas. Known for her “keen eye for observation and her sharp wit”, Stefania, proud mother to “Bunny” and “Wallie” and wife to “J.”, writes about style, food, pop culture, and parenting with her own unique twist.

GEOFF: The parent blogosphere is extremely diverse. You recently wrote that you are a 1.5 generation Korean American. Does your cultural heritage provide a different view of the parent blogosphere?

STEFANIA: I am actually a 5th generation Korean-American and a 2nd generation Italian-American. My family on my Korean side arrived in Hawaii (an American territory back then) in 1898, and my father is Italian—he lives in Rome. This means that I don’t speak Korean but I do speak Italian! My cultural heritage provides a different view of the parent blogosphere only in that there are certain cultural practices particular to Asians or Italians that I can instantly relate to when I read other Korean-American and/or Italian parenting blogs. Other than that, the fact that I am Korean-Italian doesn’t change my view. I still have the same breastfeeding, diaper-changing, potty-training, preschool search, what do I make for dinner, how do I stick to my budget, “my kids are driving me nuts!” issues that most other parents have.

GEOFF: On CityMama you write a lot about food and politics. Which do you prefer to write about and why?

STEFANIA: On CityMama, I prefer to write about food and how I, as a busy mom of two, strive everyday to create delicious and healthy meals for my family. Cooking is my “arts and crafts.” It’s what I live to do. I am trying to raise children who appreciate good food, but that doesn’t necessarily mean “gourmet.” I do love to cook and am constantly improving my skills and repetoire of recipes, but for me good food means locally grown or sourced products as much as possible, non-GMO ingredients, a respect for seasonal produce, knowing where our food comes from, and making vegetables appealing without resorting to culinary chicanery. That being said, sometimes Happy Meals make everything better. For parents, too.

I do touch on politics on CityMama, but prefer to blog about those issues on MOMocrats.com. I co-founded the blog with two other noted parent bloggers and now we’ve grown to 22 progressive Democrat mom bloggers who write about issues that affect our families—like education, healthcare, poverty, and war—which, when you think about it, are issues that affect everyone.

GEOFF: In your mind, how do CityMama and Kimchi Mamas contribute to the conversation respectively?

STEFANIA: CityMama is really the place for me to blog about my life, my beautiful family, and what we eat. Kimchi Mamas is a culture and identity blog where we strive to connect with like-minded individuals. I measure the success of Kimchi Mamas by every email or comment we receive that says, “Thank God I found you. You relate to me and my experience raising a family.”

GEOFF: What could you leave behind in the parent blogosphere?

STEFANIA: Do you mean what would I like to leave behind as my stamp on the blogosphere? I hope that my recipes and stories about cooking for my family inspire other parents to conquer their fear of the kitchen and to cook for their kids more. To me there is no higher compliment than my girls giving me a thumbs up after tasting their meal and saying, “Mmmmm! This is really good!”

And, I know it’s a cliché to say it, but I also hope that when my kids are old enough, they can read CityMama to know just how much I love them. It really is my tribute to them the best way I know how. And if it’s around 30 years from now, when they have their own children, I hope they can read CityMama to know that they are not alone in their frustrating and joyful parenting moments.

GEOFF: What do you hope your children will get out of social media?

STEFANIA: To tell you the truth, I haven’t really thought about this question much. Because my husband and I are both work in the tech field and are so connected to our laptops, we purposely strive to keep our kids away from the computer. They are 5 and 3 so there is time for that. Recently they both received Webkinz and we went onto the site to register their pets. Both of them were turned off immediately preferring to actually play with the pets rather than buy them food and furniture online. That’s age-appropriate, I think, and is totally fine with me. My five-year-old gets a big kick out of Twitter, though. She cracks up everytime she sees the “What Are You Doing?” at the top of the screen. It makes me wonder what she is thinking. She is also at the age where she can read everyone’s tweets so I have to be careful not to Twitter around her. Thanks to one of my tweets, she knows that “shit” is spelled S-H-I-T. Not one of my finer parenting moments.

CityMama can be found at: http://citymama.typepad.com/citymama/

Posted in Blogger Interviews, Moms and the Internet | 3 Comments »

PHAT Mommy on blogging, the parent blogosphere and more

May 9th, 2008 HACK

As part of our efforts at ParentPower to highlight parent bloggers, Geoff Livingston recently interviewed Shannon Entin, homeschooling mother, blogger, web designer, and, as she puts it, “lover of all things internet.” Shannon is the author of PHAT Mommy, as well as a contributor to New Jersey Moms Blog, and a Web Guru at Blissfully Domestic.

In addition to being a talented woman and parent of 2 children, Shannon has been blogging since 2005, and also is very active in pushing RSS technology.

What else is there about Shannon, you might ask? Here is some more insight in her interview with Geoff.

GEOFF: The parent blogosphere is extremely diverse. You write on New Jersey Mom’s blog. How is the parent blogosphere different in the Garden State?

SHANNON: I don’t think it is. The greatest part of the blogosphere is that no matter where you live or what your background is, you can connect with, identify with and support other parents.

GEOFF: PHAT = Parenting, Homeschooling And Thriving. Tell us about your blog, and how it discusses these three descriptions?

SHANNON: The original plan for my blog was to share updates on our homeschooling with family and also to archive the activities I do with the kids. But once I started blogging, it became much less about homeschooling and much more about connecting with others and sharing my thoughts. Over the past 3 years, I wrote a lot about parenting, but not much about homeschooling. That was also a function of the ages of my children - they were young and we weren’t actually doing that much “homeschooling.”

Now that my kids are getting older (3 1/2 and 9 1/2), I’m actually about to re-focus the blog a bit. I’m becoming less comfortable writing about the escapades of my children as they get older. It’s not “cute” anymore - and it could be embarrassing to them as they grow older. My son uses the internet now and could read my blog if he wanted to. In the next few days I’ll be re-designing my blog and tag line to: Parenting, Homeschooling and Tech-Loving. I’ll be writing more about social media - which is one of my passions.

GEOFF: What do you love about the parent blogosphere?

SHANNON: I think my answer to #1 applies here. I love how easy it is to “meet” new people and get answers and support at the click of a mouse.

GEOFF: What could you leave behind in the parent blogosphere?

SHANNON: Comment trolls. Judgmental parents. The whole (dreadfully tiresome) “mommy wars” thing.

GEOFF: What do you hope your children will get out of social media?

SHANNON: Well, first I hope they will be smart about it. I personally love social media, but it can get out of hand. I don’t want my kids sharing too much. I plan to teach them how to use social media wisely — to use it to further their goals. What do I want them to get out of it? Education, friendship, support, and fun.

GEOFF: Thanks, Shannon. If people want to reach your blog, where do they go?

SHANNON: My personal blog is at: http://phatmommy.com

If people are interested in New Jersey Moms Blog, they can go to: http://www.newjerseymomsblog.com

Lastly, Blissfully Domestic can be found at: http://blissfullydomestic.com

If you are interested in being interviewed for ParentPower, please let us know. We can be reached at: myvoice@parentpowerindex.com

Posted in Blogger Interviews | No Comments »

ParentPower Interview with Christine Louise Hohlbaum of Mama’s Musings

May 9th, 2008 HACK

Following the launch of the ParentPower Index and Application (BETA), Geoff Livingston of Livingston Communications had the opportunity to speak with parent blogger Christine Louise Hohlbaum, author of the book DIARY OF A MOTHER, and “SAHM I AM: TALES OF A STAY-AT-HOME MOM IN EUROPE”. She also is the publisher of the blog, Mama’s Musings.

A part from being an award-winning American writer and frequent commentator on NPR’s The Parent’s Journal with Bobbi Conner, Christine is one of a few American bloggers operating overseas in Germany - providing a fascinating perspective on life and parenting.

GEOFF: The parent blogosphere is extremely diverse. How is it different in Europe?

CHRISTINE: I don’t think you can make geographic delineations. I live in Europe, but my voice is distinctly American. That’s the beauty of the blogosphere. You can blog from wherever you are and carry on the conversation as if you were at home. If you read some of the foreign blogs, you get a distinct flavor for their culture as well.

GEOFF: Tell us about your book: Sahm I Am: Tales of a Stay-at-Home Mom in Europe?

CHRISTINE: SAHM I Am is the sequel to Diary of a Mother: Parenting Stories and Other Stuff, my first book about the transition from being an Ivy League educated career woman turned housewife. Mind-blowing stuff.

Diary of a Mother sort of left my readers hanging. “So what happened once you got to Europe?” they chimed. SAHM I Am was the answer.

In reality, I find blogging to be a fabulous extension to my other writing. It’s also very liberating as I can write whatever I want (within reason – I don’t like to use profanity because one day my kids will read it and then they’ll roll their eyes that they aren’t allowed to curse like Sailor Mom…)

GEOFF: How does Mama’s Musings continue the conversation?

CHRISTINE:I suppose you could look at it in terms of the grieving process.

My book, Diary of a Mother, was about denial through humor, then anger.

SAHM I Am is less desperate and transitions into acceptance.

Mama’s Musings is really a celebration of life with kids, what will make moms’ lives better, and a motley of personal stories tossed in the mix. It’s meant for people to feel better about themselves when they walk away, chuckling to themselves about the silly things that happen in life, and feeling grateful for what they do have.

GEOFF: What could you leave behind in the parent blogosphere?

CHRISTINE:It’ll be a blast for my children’s generation to read what preoccupied their parents’ generation. Most likely they won’t understand all the references, but what a great way to leave a legacy.

GEOFF: What do you hope your children will get out of social media?

CHRISTINE: Social media has an addictive component to it. Trust me. I know. I was offline until today for five weeks, yet I still blogged when I could (bloggers are Creatives – we get creative when we can’t get online any other way than to beg the local Internet café owner for one more minute – please, just one more minute, man!). I never knew how much time I spend in front of the computer until my DSL subscription didn’t transfer when we moved to a new house!

What I’d like for my kids to get out of their interaction with social media is a sense of place in the Universe. Sound lofty? It really isn’t. They can connect with people from all over the world, establish relationships with kids in foreign countries and learn new things.

GEOFF: Thanks so much for your time, Christine. If people want to reach your blog, where do they go?

CHRISTINE: Well, thank you. My blog is at: http://diaryofamother.blogs.com

If you are interested in being interviewed for ParentPower, please let us know. We can be reached at: myvoice@parentpowerindex.com

Posted in Blogger Interviews | 22 Comments »