Philly Moms

Does Pink Really Stink?

Cross-posted from our sister site, LA Moms Blog.

I just read on the NYT Motherlode blog an article titled "Boycotting Pink Toys for Girls" about a British online campaign started by two moms-Pink Stinks-which just launched an effort to boycott the Early Learning Centre, a large toy retailer in Britain, during the Christmas season because of their ¨pinkification¨ of girl´s toys. They know there are many toy outlets that abide by this practice, but believe the ELC is the worst offender since they market themselves as educational.

Yes, they have a point that the role models being perpetuated by marketers and retailers are too narrow and simplified to define who our girls really are. However, I´m not sure that pointing our fingers towards retailers will result in us raising strong, secure and powerful women. Note that I didn´t always think this way. For a long time I would pinch my nose at the site of pink and its derivatives because I felt pink was the first step at becoming a frivolous, self-centered, image-obsessed girl. Think Paris Hilton.

Ever since we found out three years ago that we were expecting a baby girl we got on the mind set to avoid anything frilly, cutesy, and pink. I didn´t mind a fuchsia, hot, mexican-rose pink, but could almost vomit by the site of the soft baby pink abd ruffles that surrounded baby girls' products. I even went to the point of requesting on my baby shower invitations that "Please, no pink gifts." I knew I would still be bombarded by pink, but wanted to minimize the impact as much as possible, while sending a message that we were not raising "that type of girl." Whatever that means.

Continue reading this post on LA Moms Blog.

Confessions of a Compulsive Blogger

Cross posted from our sister site, Los Angeles Moms Blog.

Is Blogging Your Compulsion? @ Yahoo! Video

Hello, everyone. My name is Donna and I'm a Compulsive Blogger.

And judging from the company in this room, I am not alone. I am one of a couple of hundred contributors to the Silicon Valley Moms Group, most of whom also have personal sites, where they write about what's on their minds.

We all have different experiences and points of view - but the one thing we have in common is a desire to chronicle our thoughts and share them with others. For me, (and Kim Tracy Prince, who also appears in the video above... and a lot of other women I know) it's not just a desire, but a compulsion.

Apparently, I was born a writer. I'm socially awkward in person, but give me a notebook and pen and I know how to shine. I have an autograph book signed by my second grade teacher, who said she expected to see my plays on Broadway some day. I used to look forward to exams with essay questions, because I could tailor the answers to what I did know (as opposed to multiple choice, where anything I failed to study could be made glaringly obvious). And my first paying job out of college was staff writer for a nationally syndicated radio show. That's right, I used to be a professional.

Aspiring writers are always advised to keep a journal, because it's always best to "write what you know." This is something I attempted several times over the years, but was never able to keep it up. I was busy. I was tired. But many years later - as a stay-at-home mom planning a family vacation - I started a blog with the thought that it would be the easiest way to share our journey with friends and family. The exercise of writing out the experience proved to be so enjoyable, that I continued the practice when we got home.

That was six years ago. I still write about our travels (when we leave town), but I also write about my family, my friends, my daughter's school, the PTA, local events... basically, whatever is on my mind. That journal my teachers were always nagging me to keep is now a reality, but with one major difference: It has an audience. My readers share experiences similar to mine, and let me know when they like (and don't like) something I've written. There's more to this than the affirmation of immediate feedback -- I've forged very real friendships with dozens of people through the words we write to each other and on our blogs.

And I no longer need to force myself to write, because I'm addicted.

Original post for Silicon Valley Moms Group by Donna Schwartz Mills, who also writes about life and family in Southern California at her personal blog, SoCal Mom.