What We Take For Granted

Single mothers are common in the United States. While difficult, it is possible to raise children in single parent families. But in China the rules and customs make it almost impossible. Here is one woman's story.

Lessons Learned from Mom

Lipstick Leadership is a new blogging event where people submit stories of the lessons their mother taught them. The blog's author, Michelle Y Drake, is interested in taking the lessons and applying them to the out of home workplace. My mother taught me the value of the arts and instilled in me a love of reading. She is still working on teaching me to be compassionate to those who don't seem to deserve it.

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Have One Kid, Save the World

Does having three children doom the world? If so, I'm going to hell. This blog post deals with discussion of the environmental impact of having more than two children. And the debate rages on in the comment section.

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The Human Face of the FLDS

This New York Times photo journal documents the everyday lives of FLDS mothers and their children at the Yearning for Zion ranch and after they were forced to leave. While it's easy to make judgments about people based on the stories we hear it is harder to be so righteous when we can actually see into their world (which I would suspect is one of the reasons they allowed this).

In the Kitchen

We all have memories, good or bad depending on the proficiency of the cook, of being in the kitchen growing up. My mother was a great cook and I still have lots to learn from her. Read one woman's memories of her mother and the bond they developed through cooking (recipes included).

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What Makes a Mother

This blog is written by a woman forced to surrender two of her children to adoption. She speaks out against the adoption business and has some good points about the absolute desperation of women to have children at any cost. As someone who has felt an uncontrollable biological urge to bear children I certainly sympathize with the pain of not being able to conceive. But we don't often think about the pain of the mother giving up her child, in some cases and countries she is not given a choice, so I think the airing of another view is helpful and healthy.

Is Staying Home a Choice

This opinion piece explores the dichotomy between choosing to stay at home versus being forced out of the workplace. The debate in the comments section is especially telling and interesting.

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