Working With Kids

Partners and Possibilities

The MomsRising conference at the Omega Institute was fantastic.  There were about thirty participants from numerous organizations working to help families and children, and there was a huge number of great ideas and inspirational stories during the course of the weekend.  I came away with a much greater understanding of how much potential there is to help people when we pool our resources and find ways to help each other--a somewhat obvious conclusion, but sometimes it's too easy to get focused on your own efforts and forget how much collaborating with others can help everyone.  I was particularly impressed with the passion and dedication of Kristin and Joan, the co-founders of MomsRising, and how intelligent and determined they are to make a real difference in people's lives on a large scale.  I recommend checking out their work and joining their email list (they're trying to build to a million members)--there's no cost for being part of MomsRising and their email alerts are very short and to the point; they're very aware of how short on time so many parents are these days.

I didn't post last week because I was so overwhelmed finishing a step-by-step how-to guide (printable ebook) on how to propose and implement a baby program; it's now available alone or with the ebook about babies at work.

In other news, there was a great article published today in Australia about babies at work.

We're currently in the process of redesigning the babies at work website to make it more focused and the information more accessible; we hope to have the new site up in a few weeks.

With the books being done and available as tools for people to use to start programs, I feel like there is tremendous potential for this movement to really take off.  I have had several mothers and businesses contact me just in the last week asking for a template policy or information on starting a program; people are really starting to become more open to the idea.  For example, I found this great blog post today from a woman whose perspective has shifted from skepticism to support for these programs.  I'm currently working on the babies at work "grand plan" for getting things to take off (as well as finding a way to support myself through this work (instead of having to work full-time at my day job) so that I can focus my time on really helping as many people as possible...we'll see what happens!

MomsRising Conference

I'm heading out of town this weekend to a conference coordinated by MomsRising and geared toward finding ideas and solutions for making our nation more family-friendly.  It should be a very productive weekend; I'll report on how things went when I return.  I'm taking my six-year-old daughter along--I think she'll really enjoy the weekend and get a lot out of it (the location is child-friendly) and it seemed to make sense given that my focus is on integrating children into society. 

I've been tweaking the sales page to more accurately explain what my book is about; I'm hoping to find time next week to focus more on getting word out about it.  I've had a number of mothers write to me this week for assistance with a baby program (they saw the article in People Magazine); it really seems as though more and more people are really seeing the viability (and potential) of these programs. 

People Magazine Piece on Babies at Work

This week's print issue of People Magazine (dated July 14, 2008) has an interesting two-page article about babies in the workplace that references the Parenting in the Workplace Institute on the topic.

Babies at Work Book Available

My book on babies in the workplace is done and now available for purchase (as an ebook) from the Babies in the Workplace site.  Babies at Work: Bringing New Life to the Workplace is the first book to take a focused look at the transformation that occurs when businesses enable parents to directly combine parenting and career in the workplace.

With the ever-increasing demands placed on the working family, Babies at Work provides a unique solution to the balancing act that many parents have to maintain.  It presents the experiences of the many people and businesses that have successfully implemented babies-at-work programs.  Weaving often-forgotten baby care principles into its analysis, it presents a comprehensive plan for making the workplace a more human-friendly environment.

Babies at Work is a book for prospective parents, enlightened employers, and anyone interested in new ways to reconcile the requirements of parenthood with the needs of the business world.  Its ground-breaking concept is set to change the way the world does business, one baby at a time.

I welcome comments and suggestions for furthering this work.