Few adults fully understand the importance of two daily events that happen for all children during the school day - recess!  Recess is the time when children have the greatest opportunity for unstructured and unsupervised play.  There are no parents and few teachers around.  This can be the best part of a child’s day or the worst.  This is the time when bullying occurs most frequently – away from the eyes of watchful teachers. In a sense, the typical boy bullies are easier to deal with – their bullying is usually physical and easy to spot.  For girls, bullying... More »

Do women change when they have children?  You bet!  But not to a one–dimensional state of motherhood. As most of you know urbanmoms.ca recently conducted a survey with our members and the results are pretty interesting!  Our urban mom members are sending a strong message to marketers, demonstrating that today’s modern mom is just as interested (and sometimes more) in the activities and products associated with her child-free years. Once women have children their need for knowledge and information expands, but their pre-motherhood worlds have not been left behind.  At urbanamoms.ca, we instinctively knew this, but this recent survey confirms... More »

Every now and then my husband leaves me a little surprise, by logging into my computer, navigating to a website he thinks I’ll find interesting, and leaving it on-screen.  Then, when I next log on, there it is waiting for me.  Now, sometimes these are thinly veiled attempts at pedagogy or persuasion – a radical left-wing podcast or an online bike parts store – but often enough they are little gems.  Let me tell you about the one I found yesterday. Conceived by the independent thinkers at Adbusters, Slow Down Week is described as, “seven days without fast food,... More »

My family likes to be on the move.  Even if it is as simple as a walk down the high street on a sunny spring day or kicking a ball around at the park, we are not the type that can just hang around.  I find I get really antsy and irritable if we have nothing to do and my kids get really crazy.  My husband and I often wonder which came first, their need for activity or did the high activity level lead to this need?  As I cruised down the slopes this weekend enjoying the beautiful conditions and... More »

My fondest childhood memories revolve around sports. I grew up outside.  Not literally, of course.  I had a roof over my head but I really only ate and slept at home.  The rest of the time I was either playing road hockey, baseball, football or any other outdoor activity with my neighbourhood pals.  And this was in my spare time.  The rest of my time was spent playing house league hockey or infield for school softball/baseball team, challenging a friend on the tennis court or whipping down the hill for my ski club’s racing team.  I lived and breathed... More »

With just one week remaining until the General Election, a poll at urbanmoms.ca provides a snapshot into how moms across Canada may vote next Monday.  The two polls were conducted this weekend from January 13 -15. Poll Results: Forty (40%) of respondents indicated they would vote for the Conservative Party, while the NDP is just edging out the Liberals with twenty seven per cent (27%) and twenty five per cent (25%) respectively.   Four per cent (4%) indicated their support for the Green Party and, not surprisingly for an English language community, there were no votes indicated for the Bloc Quebecois.... More »

Please forgive me if I get a bit sentimental.  Tomorrow, my baby turns three.  This might sound simple enough and even relatively uneventful but, to me, it is huge.  I have two children and have no plans to have more.  Actually, I shudder at the thought.  I am happy with my two and feel I have paid my dues of sleepless nights and human milkmaid.  Still, I suddenly realized that this is it...there is no turning back.  It just snuck up on me.  I was so wrapped up in filling our days and keeping my head above water that... More »

I learned a lot in 2005 and plan to put it to good use in 2006.  After the death of my cousin, another young mom, I was hit smack in the face with the idea of my own mortality.  I spent most of 2005 fighting an ever present urge to flee - not my family, but the life I had built around things that no longer mattered.  I had created a life filled with superficial successes. I was on my way to a very successful career, I had a home in a sought after neighbourhood, a great husband and two great... More »