From Airbrushed Photos to Motherhood Realities to a Quiet Fish

NEWSWIRE

A roundup of essays, opinion pieces, and/or noteworthy news items about all things parenting.

PICTURE TOO PERFECT

"When writers take a news item or real event and considerably embellish it, they are required to alert readers by calling the work fiction, a novel or a story based on dramatized facts. Why should it be any different for photographs?"
- French Parliamentarian Valérie Boyer, quoted in France Considers Warning Labels for Airbrushed Photos, Time, October 5, 2009

"Cosmetic surgery rates are rising dramatically as are the numbers suffering from eating disorders. We need to bring some honesty into advertising."
- British MP Jo Swinson quoted in Lib Dems Call for Ban on Airbrushed Photos, guardian.co.uk, September 19, 2009

PARENTING GRAPEVINE

A roundup of parent wisdom via parent blogs and/or Twitter.

ANGER

"I haven’t been blogging lately because I’ve been angry," Tatiana writes in her blog Was It A Very Good Year. Then she goes on to explain why. The result is a powerful post about motherhood, womanhood, and wanting more from a world that too often disappoints.

BEDREST

"What started as a very cutting edge pregnancy -- all those high-tech fertility interventions! -- has ended up an anachronism," writes Deborah Siegel (formerly Girl w/ Pen, now Mama w/ Pen). "I now understand, in a very personal way, why pregnancy was once called 'confinement,' or 'lying in.' Hospitalized for early contractions at 30 weeks, I’ve spent the past 3.5 flat on my side.... "

RELATIONSHIPS

"I'm still coming down from the buzz I felt this past weekend," confesses Carly Cooper, Balance the Mother Load columnist at SweetMama.ca. "And it's not from the dessert wine I learned to love after my dinner. My husband Marc and I took a much needed mini-vacation. For the past six months, life got in our way. Work was demanding (spring and summer are Marc's busiest time), stress and overwhelm took over and as a result our relationship got off track. We knew things had to change."

WORK

Home-based business owner and mother Michele Dortch wonders, in her blog The Integrated Mother, if she should stick with the life she had created or go back to the traditional workforce. "I love my flexible, work-at-home lifestyle. But in the last year, there’s been a distant whisper that’s beckoning me to return to the “traditional” workforce. Whenever I hear it I think, “No way! I’ve been on my own since 2003. It’ll be impossible to go back to…that.”

ONE-QUESTION INTERVIEW

A one-question interview about something to do with parenting.

Today's interviewee: Andrea of A Peek Inside the Fishbowl -- a very popular Ottawa, Ontario, blogger (and blog).

ANN: I can't remember exactly when you launched your blog or how it got its name. All I know is that it was one of the first blogs I started reading -- and that I've never stopped reading it -- and you've never stopped writing it. Obviously, you're enjoying writing your blog as much as your readers enjoy reading it. I'm hoping you will answer this question for me: How has blogging made your life better as a parent and a writer?

ANDREA: My blog got its name from my business, quietfish, which comes from a line in a Dr.Seuss book called My Many Colored Days: “Green Days. Deep deep in the sea. Cool and quiet fish. That’s me.”

Blogging has had an immensely positive impact on my life. It’s opened up many new opportunities for me as a writer but it’s also my community. I’ve connected with other parents, challenged my creative brain, and gotten a boost when I needed one. I love to write.  I love being a parent. Combining the two has made me a happier person. Vive le blog!

PS -- Let me know what you think of the new/evolving blog format. As I noted in a recent post, I'll be rotating a variety of different departments in and out of the blog, to mix things up a bit and bring you more of what you want (according to the results of the recent reader survey). - Ann

Comments

[andrea fishbowl]

Thanks for the one question!

And thank you Ann, for continuing to be such a great inspiration and supporter!

p.s. Love the new format!

[DaniGirl]

Love the new format, Ann! Lots of interesting stuff here -- keep up the good work!

[Ann Douglas]

Thanks for your positive and supportive comments, Andrea and DaniGirl. I really appreciate them -- and you. (Just realized we've been reading one another's blogs since I first started blogging back in 2004. It's great to have such long-standing connections with other bloggers.)