Site for the Science-Minded Mom

Gwen Dewar’s motherhood style and methods incorporates what she learned during her education at UC Berkeley, and her subsequent Ph.D. from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where she was trained in anthropology, behavioral ecology, primatology, and evolutionary and comparative psychology.

Her research has focused on the evolutionary origins of intelligence, social learning, and teaching. These interests led her to study cognitive development (in human children and in nonhuman primates) and the evolution of parenting. Clearly there is a vast amount of information gathered over time that can be helpful to us in understanding motherhood and parenting. When Gwen found there were too few resources available for parents that included evidence-based research she decided to start her site, Parenting Science.

Her site includes information on attachment parenting, stress, potty training, preschool social skills development and other interesting and useful research. Whether you’re a science-minded parent or you’ve avoided “science” ever since high school, you’ll learn more about parenting with a quick visit to Gwen’s site so we recommend a visit.

Happy parenting.

Have Kids Going to a Prom?

Anderson’s Prom and Party offers moms an easy online resource with school prom planning tips and products. Their very attractive site features; prom decorations, prom royalty, prom invitations, prom favors, and prom themes. You can learn more about them by visiting their listing in the School category of our directory for moms: Anderson’s Prom and Party

You should also check out this site: Prom Guide.

Shape Up By Summer - A Plan for Busy Moms

(Note: Gabby the author of this post is a mom and after checking out her Website I decided to let her share this post and I recommend you check out her Website. Not only is it one of best designed sites I’ve seen, but it is chock full of great information for moms looking to work towards getting in tip-top shape. Her site can be found at: GoToGabby.com)

By Gabrielle Reece,

I recently got this letter from a reader, who wants to make the final push to trim the baby weight off. Guess what? She’s high on motivation, but short on time. Sound familiar? Read on:

“Dear Gabby,

I’m a little over where I’d like to be on the scale, and would love to work
my post-baby belly flab off.
Ideally, I would like to weight 10 to 15 pounds less than I do, and just
improve my muscle tone and stamina. I’ve got two small children so it’s
pretty tough for me to get to the gym on regular basis.

However, I could fit in a 30 to 40 minute walk (some uphill, some down)
after school drop off in the morning, and I could also do 15 minutes of an
exercise video every afternoon. Would this amount and level of daily
exercise really make a difference in my body?

Thanks for the help, Gabby. I’m really want to look great in a bathing
suit this summer.”

Don’t we all?

I want to let all Mom readers know that understand about the “not having any time” story.  I believe most people — especially moms — feel this way.

MOVE IT TO SHAPE UP:

I’m a little over where I’d like to be on the scale, and would love to work my post-baby belly flab off. Ideally, I would like to weight 10 to 15 pounds less than I do, and just improve my muscle tone and stamina. I’ve got two small children so it’s pretty tough for me to get to the gym on regular basis.

However, I could fit in a 30 to 40 minute walk (some uphill, some down) after school drop off in the morning, and I could also do 15 minutes of an  exercise video every afternoon. Would this amount and level of daily exercise really make a difference in my body?

If you have 30 to 40 minutes a few times a day to walk that’s great, but maybe you can get more benefits by changing it up; Instead of just walking at the same pace start to add sprint interval sets.

Dr. Al Sears discusses the benefits to your body, heart, lungs, and even waist line by do something that’s called a PACE workout. Warm up, sprint (or light jog) for a minute, rest for a minute, sprint for 50 seconds, rest, sprint for 45 sec, rest, sprint 40 sec., rest, sprint 35 seconds, rest, sprint 30 seconds, rest, 25, rest, sprint 20 seconds, rest, and sprint 15 seconds.

Now you can do this on machines like a bike, treadmill or arc trainer but the key is as you decrease sprint time ADD RESISTANCE. This workout is fast and to the point. You will be huffing and puffing when it’s all said and done.

If I were you, I would do it with a friend since you could push each other, and have a little more fun. After you do the sprints, do three sets of squats for a minute each time, with a minutes rest in between sets.  Then do three sets of lunges, and then crunches where you reach to the ceiling.  If you can only do two sets the first few weeks (moving for a total of 30-45 seconds) that’s OK. Just get
started and you will improve quickly.

FUN FITNESS DVDS
If you want to do exercise DVDs I did an entire series of “Express 15″ workouts with all different kinds of themes (cardio, strength, 30 Day Challenge, etc.), and they are available in a kit (comes with all the  equipment you may need) or just the DVD itself. You can find the DVD on gotogabby.com, and the kits at
Target. I workout with a brilliant trainer Mike Monroe who really knows how to help people work hard and smart.  We created these specifically for those of you who “have no time.”

For other fun videos I think Turbo Jam, and the Zumba workouts look like fun workouts, especially for those of you who want to dance.

FOOD:
If you want to make other improvements take a look at what is going into your mouth. Try to avoid sugary drinks (juice and soda), wheat products, sugar, and reach for more real foods (non-processed proteins, veggies, and fruit).

I find Dr. Sears routine a great way to jumpstart your body change. I love this way of working out because it doesn’t take a lot of time and it really works.

Remember to always check with your doctor to make sure it’s OK for you to
exercise. If you need some motivation as you work out, just think about how
great you’ll look this summer.

————————————-

Gabby on the cover of Outside Mag

Happy Mothers Day

Find out what Wikipedia has to say about Mothers Day and its history. What is Mothers Day

Guide to Awesome Photo Prints

Most families have a digital camera these days, right? But what do you do with those thousands of pictures that stack up on your hard drive? You know there are precious memories in the mountain of pics, but getting them organized and choosing which to delete is like pulling teeth.

Online digital pictures are here to stay, but a good old-fashioned photo print that you can pass around or give away is still the easiest way to share favorite memories and preferred by most people. While web slide shows and online storage make photo sharing easier for some people, a snapshot will never go out of style.

So, this site that is somewhat of a GUIDE to awesome photo printing tips, products, and fun stuff is worth checking out and bookmarking for when you’re ready to get on top of that mountain of pics. For more info visit the listing in our directory for moms: Photo Printing Guide for Moms

Help Find Madeleine

ABC’s 20/20 did a story this week about the missing little girl, Madeleine. A year ago the world learned that the sweet little girl named Madeleine had been kidnapped from the hotel room her family was in while vacationing in Portugal. You’ll remember the media making their buck off of the story as it turned from tragic, to accusatory, to critical. It was as if the parents were to blame for the kidnapping of their own daughter.

I watched the special on 20/20 and couldn’t help to think how horrible this really is for Madeleine and her family. An innocent little girl apparently taken from her hotel room while her parents, both doctors, were enjoying dinner with vacationing friends 50 feet away at the hotel’s restaurant. I can think of no harder thing for a parent to have to live with. The only thing keeping their heads somewhat on straight is the fact that they still have to raise Madeleine’s younger twin brothers.

Amazingly Madeleine’s parents are trying to turn their nightmare into something positive for all of Europe by pushing for a European version of the Amber Alert system here in the U.S..

At this point Madeleine could be almost anywhere and it would be easy to write her off and try to block her out of our minds. Please don’t. Please think of her every day and maybe you’ll spot her, or maybe you’ll spot some $#@$%#@!! in the process of taking some other child and be able to help stop this worst possible crime.

To stay abreast of this sad story or to help Madeleine’s parents continue to investigate this kidnapping please visit their site at: Find Madeleine

Never forget.

Let’s hope someone out there who knows her whereabouts does the right thing. Let’s also do what we can to help prevent this from happening to any other child. Be alert, stay alert, help protect children that can’t defend themselves.