DCUM Weblog DC Urban Moms and Dads

Time 2020-09-28 19:03:46

Web Name: DCUM Weblog DC Urban Moms and Dads

WebSite: http://www.dcurbanmom.com

ID:63151

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Perhaps like many DCUM readers, my family is currently avoiding dining in at restaurants. At the same time, we are eager to patronize and support our local favorites. Therefore, we have been turning to Grubhub, Postmates, and the like frequently. I was frustrated to learn about the high fees and other onerous conditions placed on restaurants by these services. So when I came across DC To-GoGo, a new DC-based delivery and pick up platform launched by local restauranteurs that seeks to remedy many of the established platforms' short-comings, I was eager to give it a try. As it turned out, we not only experienced a new delivery platform, but a new restaurant, and a new cuisine. We placed an order with Nim Ali Shukos Antojitos for a variety of shukos and tamales. This was our first experience with shukos and everyone enjoyed them. Both Nim Ali's food and DC To-GoGo's online service exceeded expectations and left great first impressions. While DC To-GoGo has been rapidly gaining traction, I wanted to do my part to spread the word about this new local service and its participating restaurants. Therefore, I asked DC To-GoGo to provide the following introduction. read more... Working parent? You want to grow your business and see your kids grow up. With Two Birds, founded by working parents, you can finally have it both ways. This is a guest post authored by Kelsey Lents.What if I were to tell you that, as a working mom or dad, you can have your cake and eat it too – that putting your child’s needs front and center shouldn't mean leaving yours behind?Our generation graduated into the workforce amidst a cultural shift. Gone were pre-defined hours, roles and a steady, yet predictable path. In its place, we ushered in frequent career moves and blurred lines between work and home. I embraced that mindset wholeheartedly – and then my son was born. Suddenly I discovered that change and empowerment in the workforce is not always synonymous with change and empowerment for working parents. There are now companies whose mission it is to provide parents with both the physical and emotional resources to control and define their preferred work-life relationship. Two Birds, the only licensed childcare center with coworking space and other parent-friendly amenities, is one such company. read more... Fatherhood or even impending fatherhood unleashes lots of emotions in most men. For those of an artistic persuasion, emotions translate into inspiration and for those with musical talents, inspiration leads to songs. Two recent contributions to the "fatherhood" genre are from local Washington, DC singer/songwriter Collin Warren whose first baby (a boy) will be born any day now.Of course, songwriters being inspired by the birth of their children is such a cliché that most of you are probably stifling groans (the rest are making no attempt at stifling). But, keep an open mind. For every "With Arms Wide Open" there is a "Closing Time" that -- without Dan Wilson's confession -- I couldn't have identified as a fatherhood song. read more... An often overlooked but critical estate planning steps that need to be taken for children over the age of 18. Recent news highlight the importance of proper planning beyond health insurance. Too few people take the steps necessary to protect their health, their assets and their loved ones. When it comes to medical decisions, people mistakenly think that such matters only apply to the elderly or to those with known health problems. As an estate planning attorney, I have yet to speak with a parent that has a medical directive, which is also known as a living will, in place for their college age child.This could be a disastrous oversight for children. When a child is younger than eighteen years old, they are a child under the law and their parents are empowered to act on the child s behalf. Once the child turns eighteen, they have become an adult under the law and are now empowered to make his or her own decision. Parents mistakenly believe that when their child goes to college they will still be able to make medical and other important decisions for them. Under a law referred to as HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), a parent must get the consent of the child in order to make medical decisions for their child. read more... Before there was a "DC Urban Moms and Dads" website, there was the "dc-urban-moms-list" mailing list. Today we have made the decision to bring the list to an end. In coming days, the mailing list will be shutdown. Maria and I have decided to shutdown the DC Urban Moms Mailing list. The mailing list was launched in 2002 and rapidly grew to be a popular resource for DC area parents, inspiring our successful website. However, in recent years use of the list has declined while the difficulty of dealing with the anti-spam policies of large email providers has increased. We've finally reached the point where the effort to maintain the list is greater than the benefits of doing so.The very first email sent to the list was by our friend Sharon Winick on March 11, 2002. Sharon had conceived of the idea of arranging get-togethers for new moms. Sharon's initial efforts were so successful that keeping everyone informed about events became a bit of a challenge. We created a mailing list as an efficient means of distributing information about upcoming events. Sharon's second message announced the time and location of one of the group's periodic "Family Days". read more... A DCUM Forum post asking which DCPS schools have already lost teachers this year led to a discussion about the reality of teaching in DCPS. One post by an anonymous teacher was a real eye-opener. This is published verbatim from the forum. I'm sorry that you are having a hard time. However, can you step back and see how arrogant you (likely) were when you started just a few weeks ago? DCPS attracts/recruits urban teaching 'veterans' who assume that they can do what DCPS teachers cannot accomplish. It drives me nuts. Every year I see you all start the year with smug attitudes and then bail. Turns out that this is a tough as hell place to teach.This is my first year teaching ever. I wasn't smug at all. I didn't assume much. I wanted to teach here, because I grew up here. I received a crappy education. My teachers used to turn on a video and walk out of the room. I wasn't prepared for college. Somehow I made it anyway. I wanted to help people who look like me see a world outside of the bubble that they know. I'm not leaving because it's "tough as hell." This place is hell. read more... I am constantly asked which threads in our forums stand out to me. I normally don't have a good answer. But, here are three that were memorable. One of the most frequent questions I get asked about the DC Urban Moms and Dads website is "what were the most memorable discussion?" That's not as easy of a question as you would think because I read so many posts each day that they all start to blur together after a while. Also, while there is sort of a cottage industry on DCUM of posting about old threads, I'm not actually a fan of that tendency. Nevertheless, here are a few threads that have made an impression on me for various reasons:This board and I have been through a lot. This was a very short thread that most people probably didn't read and wouldn't remember if they did. But, I appreciated it because it illustrated how the website could have a positive impact on someone's life. It also validated our decision to move away from strictly parenting topics and to create forums on broader issues such as finance and relationships. read more... Junior's Clubhouse will be a spectacular place to play for boys and girls ages 12 and younger. One of the ramifications of operating a high-profile parenting website is a constant stream of email about new parenting products or services. Many are interesting and things in which I think our users might be interested. Some are not. Then, there are a few, a very few, that just blow me away. Cheryl Zandt's idea for "Junior's Clubhouse" is one of those. Described as "a state-of-the-art indoor playground and movement studio for kids", when I saw what was planned for Junior's Clubhouse, my reaction was "heck with the kids, I want to play there".Zandt has identified a location in the Mount Vernon Triangle neighborhood in downtown DC and drafted plans for a rainforest-themed play area divided between sections for babies and older kids (up to age 12). To raise funds for securing her lease, Zandt has been running a campaign on Fundable. read more... At the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center, we believe in not only teaching your children, but you too. The Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center is an educational entity located at the Smithsonian Institution that provides full-time, part-time and weekend programs for children aged 3 months - 6 years.Parents are important too.Besides being an educator for the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center, I am also a mom. And I know all too well, what it is like to be unsure of oneself as a parent. That is one of the reasons we have set up our programs at the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center with the parent in mind. Another reason; YOU are your child’s first teacher. How you interact with your child can have a significant impact on their early development. So we want to help you develop skills that can be used in your everyday life. Whether it’s our weekend workshops or our two-day/week toddler program, Smithsonian Early Explorers, we make our museum visits about the family as a whole. Often we ask parents to lead simple activities in the galleries that could be used in other situations. For example, we might ask infant/toddler parents to find all the boats in a gallery space or simply describe an object. Preschooler families might be asked to create a story around an object or make a list of questions they have about an object. In both of these scenarios, we are encouraging independent thinking, literacy and providing time for you and your child to interact. read more... How one DC urban mom created an online resource to help parents find child care Any parent who has ever looked for child care knows how stressful and time consuming it is. That’s not surprising given that you’ll be entrusting your child to another person, often a complete stranger. About 44% of new mothers return to work within the first 3 months of giving birth and 64% return to work within the first year, thus requiring child care. Despite such high numbers, there are few child care resources made available to new moms and parents. So where do you look?The hardest challenge is not knowing where to begin. Many turn to Google, or to friends living in their area. But every family is different and has its own specific needs, whether it’s budget, hours, teaching philosophy, or some other specific service they need for their child. read more...

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