Site Content

Headlines

Establishing our rules of engagement for which headlines we report will continue to be fine-tuned for a long time to come because we can’t imagine every contingency.  That being said, the fundamental guideline is whether we consider it relevant to our readers.  Our relevance litmus test is the following questions; all else we consider non-news:

• Is it big enough news that readers will probably feel like an ignorant boob for not knowing when  it’s brought up by others?
• Would a significant number of our readers have friends or relatives who are severely impacted?
• Is it not just gossip; people’s personal business being broadcast to satisfy our natural vice for voyeurism?
• Would a significant number of our readers change their behavior if they knew about it?

When we began we knew there was a lot of bias and non-news, but after doing this for awhile we realized MOST of the news isn’t relevant to us.  So don’t be surprised if you feel like there aren’t that many headlines… we’re checking all the time (S has at least 4 apps on her phone alone), we just filter out a lot of crap.

For the most part, we will paraphrase stories in an effort to make them as brief as possible and to minimize bias.  Obviously we cannot eliminate all bias as the decision whether to publish headlines is in-and-of-itself discriminatory.  Our goal is to eliminate any political or social bias.  For example, when a specific bill is up for a vote in Congress, we will report just that with a link to the proposed legislation.  On rare occasions we might give a one-liner argument for and against.   We don’t want to influence your decisions, we want to inform you so you can make them yourself.  We may link to other articles within our posts, but only those we consider to have no obvious political or social bias.

Coming soon –> A detailed matrix of our headline criteria.  We are making this for ourselves to ensure reliability and consistency in our content.  When we’re done, we’ll post it so you know exactly what our reasoning is.

Parenting Tidbits

A collaboration of our personal insights and those contributed by readers.  Anything that made you go, “Wow, I wish someone had told me this!” qualifies.  You can e-mail them to us or post them as a comment.

Timesavers

These are a rather eclectic group of tips for busy people to accomplish the tasks they’ve been meaning to for weeks, months, even years.  We have a whole list of topics already!  Each time we complete a new article we will add a page dedicated to time-saving tips, links, and product recommendations for that task.  Feel free to submit comments or e-mail your own ideas.

Gift Guides

This all started with S’s ideas for baby shower gifts that no one else ever seemed to give (but she thought were perfect).   We agree that a short list of ideas related to where children are developmentally might be a great tool for anyone searching for a great gift, or a very specialized gift for a specific occasion.  Each time we complete a new article we will add a page with links to the article, a custom Amazon Store with our product recommendations, and list of additional ideas.  Feel free to submit comments or e-mail your own ideas.

One for “The Book”

A collection of funny stories (and pictures) of the things kids do that create shock and awe in their parents (or friends, or family).  The page is designed to be primarily focused on contributions by our readers and eventually we hope it will have enough activity you can just pop in for a quick giggle when you need one.

Stuff we Like

A conglomeration of links about people, places, things, and activities we like.

General Guidelines

You may have noticed a distinct difference from this Mom-Blog when compared to others; there are almost no pictures of our kids.  This is intentional.  Out of respect for their privacy and to protect their digital profile (which we all know exists, even now) we will not post any identifiable images of our children.  We understand there are differing opinions on this so feel free to add pictures to your comments based on your personal preference.

Comments are not automatically accepted to ensure this site remains ‘clean’, free of spam and with minimal advertising.  This does not mean you cannot post political or socially biased comments, feel free.  Anything that would be considered obvious harassment, unsafe links, pornography, or foul language will be removed or edited.  Don’t worry, if you didn’t hear from us, the commend was approved because we will absolutely contact you before we disapprove or amend any comment.

Product recommendations are based solely on our honest opinion of the product and it’s worth.  Although we have affiliate relationships with many companies, we will neither add or withhold a product or service based on that relationship.