Technology and Motherhood

I have partnered with P&G to discuss technology and motherhood at Mom.me this month. How has technology changed the way you parent? Leave your answer and/or link to a blog post you wrote about the topic on Mom.me for your chance to win one of five P&G gift baskets valued at $250!! Click here to enter! 

Ah the joys of Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and blogs. Technology at it's finest. Mechanical swings at the fair can't even compare! While it sounds over dramatic, social media it has allowed me to hand select a community of moms that I find interesting and inspiring.  As a result, they shape the way I parent. Here are a few on my favorites.

Gabrielle Blair from Design Mom influences the books I read to my kids. My favorite feature on her blog is the author interviews. Just the other day she did this one with Judith Byron Schachner, author of the Skippyjon Jones book series. After reading the interview, guess who bought a Skippyjon Jones book? Me.  Had I never read the interview, I might have over looked the book entirely. But since Schachner’s answers were so thoughtful and relatable, I realized she's an author I want to support . When I saw her book for sale, I snatched it up. My kids were stoked to get a new book!

Jordan Ferney from Oh Happy Day has changed the way I throw a party for my kids. I’ve never met anyone who loves parties more than Jordan. It only took a couple of years of knowing her before I tried my hand at a birthday party for Ella filled with personal touches and a solid theme. I made party hats, candy bags, pinwheels, fake mustaches, a dessert table with labeled candy, and so on and so on and so on. I even spray painted all the musical instruments white to keep within the color scheme. I had a blast putting the party together. That said, my daughter has never had a party like it again! It exhausted me.  I’ve since scaled down my kid's parties a bit, but I know if I wanted to, I could search Jordan’s blog for tons of ideas. Next time though, I’ll pick one idea, instead of ten. Jordan makes it look so easy that sometimes I get carried away :) Enjoy this old video of the best party Ella will ever get. It's a shame I set the bar so high on her fourth birthday. A real shame . . .



And finally, there's Betsy from Eco-Novice. I've mentioned her before, but she's my green influencer. Her recent post with tips about getting the most out of your farmers market reminded me I need to attend mine more often. Above all, she makes me feel ok about going green gradually. While she’s a few steps a head of me in the process, it’s inspiring to watch someone make small changes that have a big impact on the earth. She’s honest about her failures (homemade yogurt!) and balances it out with her successes (early potty training!). She brings things to my attention I’ve never thought of and makes me less scared to try them. Remember my bar shampoo experiment? Anyone else make the plunge?

While I used to hang out with Jordan and Betsy when I lived in California, it’s nice to know that despite our distance, I can still learn from them as I follow their blogs, twitter, and facebook accounts. It’s also amazing that a person I’ve never met before like Gabrielle can have an influence on the books I read to my kids at night.

Isn’t it fabulous how technology brings like minded moms together?

Now it's your turn. How has technology changed the way you parent? Leave your comments on Mom.me for your chance to win!