Three chats on TheMotherhood.com--Join me tomorrow!

I'm one of the co-hosts for a live chat on TheMotherhood.com tomorrow from 1 to 2 pm ET to discuss our new Courageous Parenting anthology. TheMotherhood.com founders Cooper Munroe and Emily McKhann are going to use this chat as the basis for their chapter and we would love to hear your thoughts about what Courageous Parenting means to you.

Their three talks this week are so great I wanted to share them all. I love Rosalind Wiseman's work. She is a colleague of my recent podcast guest Rachel Simmons on issues affecting adolescent girls.

And on Thursday, the chat about Growing Up Online will feature none other than my former Mojo Mom Podcast co-host Sheryl Grant in her new role as a Director of Social Networking for the Digital Media & Learning Competition, supported by the MacArthur Foundation.

So I encourage you to consider participating in one or more of these chats. Just sign up as a member on TheMotherhood.com and then follow the links at the chat time to join in.

TheMotherhood Talks this week!

TODAY at 1 pm ET: Rosalind Wiseman - author Queen Bees & Wannabes
We're talking about mean behavior, in our lives and our daughters' and how hurtful it can be. Join the conversation here.

Wednesday at 1 pm ET: We're writing the chapter of a book together, live.
Be a part of Amy Tiemann's anthology on Courageous Parenting! Share your life experiences, thoughts and tips! The book comes out in March 2010, and contributors receive a copy. We're talking here.

Thursday at 1 pm ET: Social Media and Our Kids
Join the MacArthur Foundation and The Online Mom to talk about our kids growing up online - your approaches, experiences and fears. We'll all take away great information and ideas on how to deal with our kids online. Join us all here.

We look forward to some GREAT conversations. See you there!

Emily and Cooper

The chats are also archived, so if you can't stop by during the live event, you can come back later to follow the links, see how the conversation unfolded, and add your comments.

Sign up for my e-newsletter on www.MojoMom.com to receive a free e-book of the new Courageous Parenting anthology when it comes out in early 2010!

Chapel Hill MommyMixer babysitting event, November 9th

I wanted to follow up about the Mommy Mixer babysitting event I attended few weeks ago, because there is going to be another event in Chapel Hill, at Market Street Books in Southern Village on November 9th.

I enjoyed the MommyMixer event and found it to be a really valuable service. There were plenty of babysitters to go around and they all seemed like very nice, smart young women. Even though they live on campus only a few blocks or miles away from families who need babysitting, there isn't always an easy way to meet them, which is why the MommyMixer event is so useful.

One thing I learned at the event is that they plan to have more babysitters than parents attending, so it did not feel like a competition for scarce babysitters. Also, the Moms had different needs and the babysitters were looking for different kinds of work, so it seemed like a good possibility that things would work out for everyone.

The usual fee for parents attending the Mommy Mixer is $100, but I have negotiated a half-off discount for my blog readers. You can attend for $50 when you enter MOJOMOM into the event field when you register.

You can sign up at MommyMixer.com

And here's the link for this specific Chapel Hill event.

I do not have any financial relationship with Mommy Mixer--I just want to recommend it because as a Mom I thought it was a great service. You get to meet the babysitters and then take home a binder with their resumes (12 from the event I attended). Then you call and hire the sitters, operating on your own from there--MommyMixer plays the role of introductory match maker.

With the holidays coming up, I am sure that many of us could use a little extra help.

The next event in Southern Village is Sunday, November 9 from 4:30 to 6 pm. You don't have to stay the whole time. I felt like an hour was enough time to meet everyone.

Feel free to forward this offer to anyone in Chapel Hill who might be interested. I think it would be a great event for Dads who are in charge of finding child care, because it's a comfortable opportunity to meet these babysitter candidates.

(P. S. I have no financial relationship with MommyMixer--this is a pure Mom-to-Mom recommendation.)

'Speed Dating' for Moms and babysitters

We all know that finding a babysitter can be a challenge, especially developing a deep enough roster to fill last-minute needs. I just heard about a new business called MommyMixer. They set up in-person networking events attended by parents who need babysitters and babysitter candidates. You can meet potential babysitters in person and also take home a notebook full of their resumes with skills and availability.

What a great business idea, I wish I'd thought of it! Here I am living in a college town but up until now, I haven't had an easy way to meet potential sitters who are nearby but wrapped up in campus life.

MommyMixer offers events in about fifty cities across the U. S. and a couple in Canada. I am going to go to their event in Chapel Hill on September 28.

Join me in Chapel Hill on September 28 and save half off the entrance fee.

It usually costs $100 to attend but you can come for $50 if you put "Mojo Mom" in the event field when registering. Think they'll extend this discount to the first 20 people who register for this specific event on September 28 in Chapel Hill. So if you care to join me, sign up soon.

The amazing Mojo Circle and an upcoming Triangle event

Networking is such an important activity for Moms. When you meet cool people, it's important to "capture" them into your network, whether that means developing friendships, connecting people into social networks like LinkedIn or Facebook or getting to know people through traditional business-oriented groups like the Chamber of Commerce.

Whenever you meet new people, project your whole self--including your Mom identity--making sure that you include your professional accomplishments, hopes and aspirations as well. You never know when the person you meet on the playground or at a classroom meeting could become your next client, boss, or business partner.

A couple of years go I was meeting so many amazing women through my work as Mojo Mom that I decided I needed find a way to bring them together. It was as though I was finding dazzling gems on my path and I needed a mechanism to connect them into a necklace. The Mojo Advisory Circle was born, a group of ten women meeting monthly to advise each other on life and business, and it's been a fantastic success. The cross-pollination among the members is amazing. Each of us are solo entrepreneurs or in business partnerships. When we started, most of the women did not already know each other, and I did not know all of them well--just well enough to know that I wanted to get to know them better.

There is an event coming up in Durham NC on September 17th that has strong Mojo Advisory Circle connections: the Carolina Parent Women @ Work event featuring a morning keynote talk by Opting Out? author Pamela Stone. I love her research and I can't wait to meet her in person.

After the breakfast event, your can sign up for the optional Career On-Ramping Workshop offered by Balancing Professionals principals Kella Hatcher and Maryanne Perrin. This half day workshop, running from 11 am to 2:30, including lunch, is for anyone who wants to sharpen up their rusty work skills to get back out there on the job market. Kella and Maryanne are true pioneers in this field and I highly recommend their workshop. This is a great opportunity to tap into their expertise, and you'll notice that the day wraps up in time for school pickup.

I am not presenting in any official capacity but I will be attending the event, so I hope to see you there. If you are reading this blog, you are in the extended Mojo Circle, so I hope you'll come up and say hi if you see me.

Welcome to Cooper & Emily's neighborhood, TheMotherhood.com

Cooper Munroe and Emily McKhann are two of the most dynamic women I have ever met. They co-author a wonderful blog, Been There, which was turned into an instant community bulletin board providing relief opportunities to everyday people after Hurricane Katrina. I also know them from the Executive Team at MomsRising.org.

And now these two have launched a new website for Moms, TheMotherhood.com. Right out of the gate the site is professional and inviting. Before now, I have had very little desire or incentive to get involved in social networking sites, but I've been eagerly anticipating the launch of TheMotherhood for months now.

If anyone can create an intelligent, involving site for Moms, these two are the women to bet on!

And yes, they listed Mojo Mom on their blog ticker, which I really appreciate. This is a great feature for all of us who want to read the latest updates on other women's blogs but don't always have time to visit each individual site. It's like a news feed customized for Mojo Moms (if I do say so myself).

Seeing my blog listed on their site gave me a great kick in the pants to make sure I am writing here regularly. These days I have still been getting used to writing for both MojoMom.com and (parent . thesis) on the uber-tech site CNET. I don't quite have the kinks worked out yet to tell me how to do it all. But you know I'll still be here. The summer months are both fun and trying as I patch the holes in my normal childcare schedule.

And I'll find time somehow to meet you on The Motherhood!