Friday, February 26, 2010

Mojo Mom Podcast with Balancing Professionals career expert Kella Hatcher

I'm continuing my series of Mojo Mom Podcast conversations with Courageous Parents, Confident Kids contributors, this week speaking with Kella Hatcher of Balancing Professionals consulting. Kella, collaborating with her business partner Maryanne Perrin, contributed a chapter on "Tools for Career Reinvention" to our new book.

Listen to the podcast now:



This week Mojo Mom is talking career strategies with Kella Hatcher, who along with Maryanne Perrin is a principal in Balancing Professionals consulting, advocating or a flexible, strategic, sustainable workplace. Kella and Maryanne have also contributed a chapter on career development to the new anthology that Amy Tiemann is editing, "Courageous Parents, Confident Kids -- Letting Go So You Both Can Grow."

Kella and Amy talk about strategies for lifelong career development, on-ramping, putting your best foot forward and getting your confidence back as you craft your own path, which may go "off-road" rather than follow a career ladder. Fortunately, these days more workers are advocating for alternative, flexible work, and that will benefit both Moms and Dads. Workplace change is coming, and we are the pioneers!


Get a digital download of our new book for free! Sign up on www.MojoMom.com

Labels: , , , ,

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Free training on "Getting Kids to Listen:" March 18 webinar with Mojo Mom and Positive Parenting Solutions

"Getting Kids to Listen: The 5 R's of Fair and Effective Consequences"

You're invited to a complimentary webinar sponsored by Mojo Mom author Amy Tiemann Ph.D. and presented by Amy McCready of Positive Parenting Solutions.

Amy McCready and Amy Tiemann have collaborated on a new book, the anthology Courageous Parents, Confident Kids — Letting Go So You Both Can Grow, to be released this April. Now they are teaming up to bring you this new webinar, teaching concrete and effective strategies about Getting Kids to Listen.


Thursday, March 18, 2010, 9-10 PM (EST)

Who Should Attend: Parents of children ages 1-16 who want to learn concrete tools to effectively correct misbehavior without yelling, nagging or punishing.

What You'll Learn: Amy McCready, Founder of Positive Parenting Solutions will present a fun and interactive training session designed to teach you:

- Why kids really misbehave. The answer may surprise you.

- Positive Power... Why kids MUST have it & how to give it without “giving in.”

- Courageous Parenting... Holding kids accountable without being the bad guy.

- The 5 R's of Fair and Effective Consequences

- New resources to reduce parenting stress and feel more confident for any parenting challenge.

Date: Thursday, March 18, 2010

Time: 9:00 – 10:00 p.m. Eastern


Access: All you need is a computer with a speaker to hear the presentation. We'll send you the log in instructions.

Cost: No charge for participants at the live event! The webinar recording will be available for purchase for those who could not attend the live presentation for $29.95.

Please feel free to invite other parents who want to learn proven tools to reduce their parenting stress.

Note Taking Guide: Print this Note Taking Guide (PDF) so you can follow along and get the most out of the webinar.

How It Works: You'll receive an email confirmation with the link to access the webinar. When you "enter" the webinar, you'll see the session slides on your screen as well as a video box to see the presenter and a chat box to type questions or make comments.

While you can see the presenter, no one can see you. You will be able to "go to class" from the comfort of your home and learn how you can reduce parenting stress and feel more confident in the most important job you will ever have.

RSVP: Register now at PositiveParentingSolutions.com

We'll see you at the Webinar! --Amy Tiemann and Amy McCready

Labels: , , , , , ,

Monday, February 22, 2010

Announcing our Courageous Parents, Confident Kids book cover and contents


I've been "in the hive" all winter working on editing the new book, Courageous Parents, Confident Kids -- Letting Go So You Both Can Grow. We reached a major milestone today with the creation of our book cover!

My thanks go out to Dunn + Associates Design and illustrator Jane Mjolsness for their stunning work! In the book creation process, things always begin to feel "real" when the cover is done.

The new book will be released in paperback in April, and best of all, you register to get a free digital download of the complete book by signing up on MojoMom.com

I am very excited to share this innovative parenting resource with you, created in collaboration with the following amazing experts who contributed chapters.

Here is a preview of Courageous Parents, Confident Kids -- Letting Go So You Both Can Grow

Introduction by the Editor, Amy Tiemann, Ph.D., author of Mojo Mom: Nurturing Your Self While Raising a Family.

Part 1: The Courage to Invest in Your Own Development

The Transformative Power of Self-care by Renee Peterson Trudeau, life coach and author of The Mother's Guide to Self-Renewal.

Tools for Career Reinvention by Kella Hatcher and Maryanne Perrin, founders of Balancing Professionals.

Part 2: Developing Your Own Courageous Parenting Style

The Courage to Let Our Kids Solve Their Own Problems by Maya Frost, international lifestyle design expert and author of The New Global Student.

The Courage to Become Your Own Parenting “Expert” by Melissa Stanton, author of The Stay-at-Home Survival Guide. Visit Melissa at www.RealLifeSupportForMoms.com

The Power of Personal Significance for Kids of All Ages by Amy McCready, parent educator and founder of Positive Parenting Solutions.

I’m Worried I Worry Too Much, But How Do I Stop? by Jamie Woolf, leadership expert and author of Mom-In Chief.

Part 3: Real-world Safety Skills for All

Kidpower: Skills for Safety, Skills for Independence by Irene van der Zande, co-founder and Executive Director of Kidpower, Teenpower, Fullpower International.

How to Say Yes to Your Kids’ Online Activities by Linda Criddle, internet safety expert and creator of iLookBothWays.com

Part 4: Finding Your Voice and Raising It for the Community

Becoming a Political Parent: PunditMom on Mothers Raising Their Voices Online by Joanne Bamberger, journalist and founder of PunditMom blog.

Building a Family-friendly America: Challenge and Progress Through the Eyes of MomsRising.org by Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, co-founder and Executive Director of MomsRising.org

It Takes a Motherhood by Cooper Munroe and Emily McKhann, co-creators of the award-winning online community, TheMotherhood.com

***

Our goal with Courageous Parents, Confident Kids is to share core concepts and skills you can build upon to become a courageous parent. When you do so, you can experience tremendous growth throughout your whole family, kids and parents included.

Labels: , ,

Friday, February 19, 2010

Mojo Mom Podcast with "Switch" co-author Dan Heath

Don't you love the feeling of having just the right book come into your life at just the right time? That's how I feel about the new book Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard. Reading Switch helped me understand with more clarity what my anthology contributors and I are trying to accomplish with our new collaboration Courageous Parents, Confident Kids. There has been a lot written to motivate people to give their kids more freedom and responsibility. Now with Courageous Parents, Confident Kids. we are adding to that conversation by providing toolbox of skills to help parents and families reach that goal.

I highly recommend Switch for anyone who is involved in leadership or change--and that would include all parents! The new book, which is the Heath Brothers' follow up to their bestseller Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, has just come out this week, and Switch has already rocketed up the bestseller list on Amazon.com. So it is a real pleasure to welcome Switch author Dan Heath to The Mojo Mom Podcast this week.

Listen to the podcast now:



The Mojo Mom Podcast is all about providing parents with valuable information that applies to all aspects of life. Parents are leaders and change agents. So this week Amy Tiemann welcomes Dan Heath back to the podcast to talk about his brand-new bestseller co-authored with Chip Heath, "Swtich: How to Change Things When Change is Hard."

Whether you are a PTA volunteer, community organizer, or CEO, "Switch" will change the way you look at change. In this interview, Dan explains the guiding metaphor of "Switch" and inspiring examples of people creating big change in difficult situations.

Listen in, check out the Heath Brothers' website for more information, and read Amy Tiemann's full review of "Switch."

Labels: , , ,

Friday, February 12, 2010

Mojo Mom Podcast with PunditMom, Joanne Bamberger

This week on The Mojo Mom Podcast I get to talk with PunditMom herself, Joanne Bamberger. Joanne raises a political voice for mothers through several platforms across the blogosphere, on outlets including her own PunditMom blog, with her Mothers of Intention feature, MOMocrats, blog talk radio, and BlogHer. Joanne was also selected to be a member of the inaugural class of the Progressive Women's Voices program offered by the Women's Media Center.

And, I am very proud that Joanne has joined my latest project, as one of our team of Courageous Parents, Confident Kids anthology contributors.

So I hope you'll listen in to this week's Mojo Mom Podcast, which is part book discussion; and then gets into our personal opinions and a bit of group therapy for (currently) discouraged Democrats trying to get our mojo back.

Listen to the podcast now:



Amy Tiemann continues her series of interviews with "Courageous Parents, Confident Kids" anthology contributors, this week by talking politics with Joanne Bamberger, creator of PunditMom blog.

In Joanne's book chapter, she talks about what it means for parents to connect with their political voices, and proclaim their opinions, often using blogs as an outlet. Here Joanne and Amy get right into it, sharing their own opinions about their frustrations with the Democratic Party, politics, and the seeming inability to get anything done, even when one party has the Presidency and majorities in the House and Senate.

Hear what's on Amy and Joanne's minds, and then feel free post a comment here to let us know what is on yours!

Labels: , , , , , ,

Progress on the new anthology: We have a final title!

I've been hunkered down this week in book production mode, with my sick kid at home as well! So I haven't been able to blog very much. But I have major progress to announce. Not only do we have a completed book manuscript, we have a final title for the new anthology coming out this spring.

Courageous Parents, Confident Kids
will be published this April. I am very proud of the breadth and depth of expertise and inspiration we'll be sharing with you through this new book.

Make sure to sign up on MojoMom.com to participate in our free digital download giveaway, and we'll send you a digital copy of the brand new book when it comes out!

More details to come...for the next major milestone, I will unveil the book's cover design!

Labels: , ,

Friday, February 05, 2010

Mojo Mom Podcast with Equally Shared Parenting


When Marc and Amy Vachon married and started a family, they could not have predicted that their personal commitment to each other to act as equal parenting partners would contribute to a growing social movement. But it has grown into a movement that Marc and Amy cover through their blog and their new book, Equally Shared Parenting. On this week's Mojo Mom Podcast, the Vachons stop by to talk about their co-parenting strategies and the benefits--for both Moms and Dads--of developing an egalitarian parenting partnership.

Equally Shared Parenting is one of the books I was most looking forward to reading in 2010, and the Marc and Amy did a great job with it. They build on their personal experience, interview other families, and draw on sociological research to show other families how they can move toward an more equally-shared parenting style.

I have learned a lot from Amy and Marc, and I hope you'll listen in to our conversation on this week's episode of The Mojo Mom Podcast.

Listen to the podcast now:

Labels: , , ,

Mojo Mom's Six Word Memoir. What would yours be?

Super quick post: The other day I heard the segment on NPR's Talk of the Nation about six word memoirs and it got me thinking about my own. I had heard of this project before, but the shared radio musings captured my imagination in a new way. Rather than a description of the past, I wanted to capture a snapshot of where I am right now.

So here's Mojo Mom's six word memoir:

Trying to take my own advice.


There are no rules other than six words. Write what speaks to you!

I would love to hear your six word memoir in the comment section.

Labels: , ,

Monday, February 01, 2010

Mojo Mom's LOST obsession--Countdown to Season Six!

My mind has been taken over by Lost this week--delightfully so, obsessively so. Regular readers of this blog may not care, heck, maybe no one cares what I think, but I am writing about it anyway--because today and tomorrow are the last days that we can write about Season Six without knowing anything about what is going to happen.

I just rewatched last season's finale, "The Incident," and I am not going to write a whole Doc Jensen-like dissertation right now, but I will start out by listing the pop culture references that the show is making me think of now.

[A Dharma-influenced] Wizard of Oz: The classic film was given a serious name-check in "Henry Gale," Ben's assumed identity, when he said he'd arrived on the island in a balloon. I think that the whole show's eventual theme will turn out to be "There's no place like home," but "home" will turn out to mean accepting your life as it is and being comfortable in your own mind. Of course the characters are just as far away from this as they could be right now as they set off a hydrogen bomb to reset the future!

Star Wars: The episode "Some Like it Hoth" was a funny and self-conscious Star Wars homage but there were flashes of Star Wars in the finale--Sawyer shooting out the submarine communication system a la Han Solo in the original Star Wars. Jack giving Kate meaningful "I love you" glances without saying it, a la Han Solo in The Empire Strikes Back.

Carrie: Not only was the Stephen King novel the book club selection at The Others' camp, the finale with the magnetic flux disturbance that caused all the metal to fly around and impale people was very Carrie. Poor Juliet. (To this day, Carrie is still stands out in my mind. Very well done, not just a typical horror movie by any means, and scary as hell.)

The Rolling Stones: "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need." That's basically what all these characters need to learn.

Queen, "Bohemian Rhapsody:" The whole operatic saga and sense of reality/unreality, destiny/doesn't matter any way, seems very Lost.

Raiders of the Lost Ark: Any time they go into the temple it reminds me of Raiders, especially the scene in which Ben gets judged by Smokey. He's lucky his head didn't explode.

As for the Jacob/Man in Black conflict, I am the first to admit that I am quite confused. Sometimes it almost all comes together in my head, but not in a way I could articulate! I definitely don't think that Jacob is "good." I think he's meddling to prove a point, almost like a Greek God gone rogue (aren't Gods supposed to avoid intervening directly in human affairs?). I think Jacob is on the one hand telling people they have free choice, but at the same time going and interfering with the past timeline to try to make things turn out differently this time. The Man in Black talks about a "loophole" and I think Jacob may have the castaways in a time loop. Who knows how many times they've been through this before, with similar outcomes, as Jacob tries to direct them to a "better" fate, not because he cares about them, but just because he can? He seems really old and bored to me, like he's seen it all, and messing with humanity is his little project. In the flashback when Jack met Jacob in the hospital, and Jacob got Jack's stuck Apollo bar out of the vending machine, Jacob said the machine was stuck and "Maybe it just needed a little push."

I also think that the Man in Black has been the same spirit appearing as Jack's dead father this whole time. He was also trapped in what was called "Jacob's cabin" but was really the prison that Jacob created for the Man in Black. Not such revolutionary guesses, but there it is for the record.

I will say that I think that since Jacob knew of the Man in Black's plan, namely that Jacob couldn't be killed directly by the Man in Black but could be killed by a true believer acting on his own free will (Ben), Jacob put in an extra twist so that if this ever happened, he wouldn't really be killed, but would transform, just like Obi-Wan Kenobi said to Darth Vader "If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine."

And that, my friends, could be the ultimate "Long Con," a theme talked about in Sawyer's story line. After hundreds of years of looking for a way to kill Jacob, the Man in Black thinks he's found one, but he ends up giving Jacob the ultimate final victory, causing the very thing he is trying to prevent, as Miles wondered about Jack setting off the hydrogen bomb.

So where I get confused is thinking about Richard and the Others, Eloise Hawking, Daniel Faraday, Charles Widmore vs. Ben, etc. Categorizations will go beyond good or bad but not clear whose side will "win."

I do think the show's creators are intelligent and mature people who will come up with an ending that works and has a meaningful message. I do think they believe in destiny, or else the whole show's premise and existence wouldn't be worth exploring. But the resolution they choose and how they get there will be very interesting. And if they reboot the timeline, any character could come back and anything could happen.

I hope they are done with the time travel shifting storylines for now, but I would not be surprised in the end if Jack ends up being his own grandpa....

Labels: , , ,