tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5181380003422240972012-02-16T07:04:22.410-08:00A multi-tasking urban social worker/suburban mom divides her day and her energy between the very old and the very young, and is constantly struck by the parallels inherent in her dual life.Mojo Mamanoreply@blogger.comBlogger181100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518138000342224097.post-16969816096239665572010-02-25T15:22:00.000-08:002010-02-25T15:24:34.569-08:00

Psyched to Be a Modern Motherby monica gallagher(Published in the February 2010 Forum, the national publication of Mothers and More)I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard someone say, “Well, past generations didn’t have all these parenting classes, or overanalyze all these ‘issues,’ and their kids turned out okay.” In general, I support this statement. Everything is relative; good

Mojo Mamanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518138000342224097.post-73267643215690643782009-01-20T19:43:00.000-08:002009-01-20T20:22:14.053-08:00

Sometimes, one finds herself in the right place at the right time. Today I was one of two white people watching Obama's inauguration at a sliding-fee medical clinic in St. Paul, that caters to both people who can afford regular health insurance, and those that cannot. I was providing a ride for an elder for work; from what I could tell, the clientele is diverse but primarily lower to middle

Mojo Mamanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518138000342224097.post-78199205691799705092008-02-15T20:56:00.001-08:002008-02-15T21:20:52.833-08:00

I volunteered in my daughter's kindergarten classroom for an hour and a half this afternoon. I work mornings, and Grandma was able to take her little sister, so I jumped at the opportunity to get to know the place our daughter will spend so much of the next six years. I enjoyed helping the kids with their projects and soaking in their distinct personalities, which were so obvious even as they

Mojo Mamanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518138000342224097.post-1614077001150386192008-02-08T13:49:00.000-08:002008-02-08T14:13:04.789-08:00

What does it mean that Google is advertising Ambien on my blog? Does it read like the incoherent musings of someone sleep-deprived? Or that the only readers are those with persistent insomnia? This may come as a shock, but I usually do get enough sleep, and hope all four of my readers do, too; I believe in both caring for others and self-care. I slide into martyrdom occasionally, but try not to

Mojo Mamanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518138000342224097.post-22398615575472751692008-01-27T17:56:00.000-08:002008-01-27T18:15:17.575-08:00

The following is a version (without full names and hometowns) of the feature article from the Spring 2008 Forum, the Mothers and More quarterly publication (http://www.mothersandmore.org/). I found it fascinating to research the experiences of women who have been both stay-at-home moms and full-time work-away moms; there are plenty of implications for social policy and American culture as a

Mojo Mamanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518138000342224097.post-48818614235705621812008-01-25T19:10:00.000-08:002008-01-25T19:21:10.033-08:00

I schlepped the girls home, in the below zero wind chill, from dinner at a friend's one night this week, and as I used my real body to park in our real driveway, I noticed an enormous, glossy, semi-pornographic female image hanging from the front door. It looked like a Hustler image--a woman with lips parted, heavy eye makeup, apparently climaxing while wearing boxing gloves. Was this some bad

Mojo Mamanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518138000342224097.post-68356572865452807472007-12-19T20:01:00.000-08:002007-12-19T20:30:16.594-08:00

I'm struck every Christmas that I really couldn't tell you definitively who is and isn't part of our family. With whom do we have meaningful connections? It's a little gray, really. I spent tonight driving 40 miles round-trip to visit my step niece-in-law and her premature twins at a hospital, per the request of her concerned mother and auntie. Technically former step niece-in-law, as my

Mojo Mamanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518138000342224097.post-60283022848881615472007-12-12T19:05:00.000-08:002007-12-12T19:22:20.427-08:00

Yesterday was our monthly lunch/speaker series at work. It's always a village effort to feed about 50 neighbors 65+, about 1/3 receiving rides from our volunteer drivers. It's almost always an inspiring symbiosis of personalities and effort, yesterday in particular. This event, in addition to the diverse collection of luncheon guests, featured live Irish music; Irish step dancing; 20 elementary

Mojo Mamanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518138000342224097.post-13103483946520608692007-11-26T19:12:00.000-08:002007-11-26T19:43:19.907-08:00

I'm feeling a little sentimental after a week in my Midwestern hometown for Thanksgiving. There's nothing like hearing my dad say he ate "Manchurian-some-dam*-thing" at the Chinese restaurant or seeing my niece perform in a play at my old high school. Even though I elect to live in a city 400 miles away, I value feeling rooted to this place. My husband sat through 1.5 hours of family slides

Mojo Mamanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518138000342224097.post-30996780657806469872007-10-23T19:19:00.000-07:002007-10-23T19:40:33.755-07:00

The following is the text of a feature article I wrote for the Summer 2007 Forum, the national publication of Mothers and More, an outstanding national advocacy organization for mothers (http://www.mothersandmore.org/). I thought I'd share it with an audience wider than the M and M membership, as the stories of the moms interviewed are timely and interesting.For A Few Lucky Moms, The New Life/

Mojo Mamanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518138000342224097.post-45562772298202563652007-09-28T14:45:00.001-07:002007-09-28T14:55:22.960-07:00

Long time, no blog. I bet all three of my regular readers are just crushed!My husband introduced himself after I did at our parent/child class this week. I mentioned that my professional/personal lives converge in terms of general "caregiving issues," and it touched me when he mentioned that as a respiratory therapist/a.m. dad, his two lives converge this way as well. He's always been a great

Mojo Mamanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518138000342224097.post-36863757095380178542007-09-20T19:09:00.000-07:002007-09-20T19:35:24.675-07:00

It's one of those days where I see the world through crimson-tinted glasses; that is, a quasi-social worker's awareness of all the human needs that could keep us all busy a long time. Among the people I spoke with today:*someone in chronic pain caring for a spouse with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder*an illiterate, undocumented day laborer from another country, disappointed that I'm unable to act

Mojo Mamanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518138000342224097.post-72792009188568602972007-09-17T06:45:00.000-07:002007-09-17T06:52:24.922-07:00

I'm still reeling a bit today from a conversation I had with another mom yesterday. If I understood her point through her high emotions, I think it was, "You're not qualified to have opinions on breast pumps because you didn't work as many hours away as I did." I wasn't trying to be any final authority, but rather mentioned what worked for me when the topic came up. This is someone I respect,

Mojo Mamanoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518138000342224097.post-66631898888781401372007-09-10T19:46:00.000-07:002007-09-10T20:02:15.654-07:00

Our first baby boarded the big yellow school bus to kindergarten last week. She's on cloud nine, in love with the whole experience. She's too self-conscious to freeze-dance in front of her classmates, but otherwise, her confidence is soaring. Her dad and I are thrilled for her. She feels so ready to take on a whole host of new challenges: reading, writing, dealing with bullies, making

Mojo Mamanoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518138000342224097.post-63278490390986629222007-09-03T19:30:00.000-07:002007-09-03T19:40:48.800-07:00

The summer has flown, but I'm pleased to say we've met our primary goal of feeling at home in the new house and neighborhood. We continue to meet nice neighbors of all ages, or get to know them better, every week, and are pretty enthused with the church we've found. It was frankly an incredibly stressful, arduous process to buy and sell houses in a coordinated way, so if we did have buyers'

Mojo Mamanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518138000342224097.post-77315111880345631742007-08-30T18:38:00.000-07:002007-08-30T18:52:48.525-07:00

There has been an interesting turn of events this week related to our toddler's speech disability. We learned that we may actually have a shot at therapy covered by insurance, to supplement the 1 time/week from the school district. Several phone calls later, (to our clinic, her current therapist, our insurance, her prospective therapist, to my sister for moral support) we're awaiting the

Mojo Mamanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518138000342224097.post-70342768882278684802007-08-27T12:32:00.000-07:002007-08-27T12:45:17.979-07:00

There's a Sandra Boynton children's song, "I Need A Nap." It runs through my head a lot, because it's catchy, and because I'm often fantasizing about a nap. After attempting to cut through the red tape keeping people from things such as health insurance, walkers that fit, and clinic visits, I'm having trouble switching gears to be Mommy Again.I had to cut a work call short because of "my next

Mojo Mamanoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518138000342224097.post-45490235111590638572007-08-24T11:47:00.000-07:002007-08-24T11:50:52.644-07:00

A Toddler On My Hip, as I Talk On The Phone about Someone’s Hip Replacement…Who wants to read the daily to weekly musings of a suburban mom/urban social worker? Seriously—not a rhetorical question. Because I’m itching to get back to writing, and thinking a blog might provide just enough structure and stimulation to get me going. At any given time, my heart and mind are busy with the very young

Mojo Mamanoreply@blogger.com4