A Mama's Rant

Webkinz Jr. plush toys and website for the little ones

It’s just not good enough for toy makers to make a cool action figure or cute plush animal anymore. Each toy has to have their own gaming website, videos, clothing line, television show and possibly a movie, too. (Hello, Transformers!)

It’s enough to make a parent worry that the TV show is brainwashing their kid to bug their parents for toys. Or the toys are making the kids turn into Wii remote zombies.

Not to worry with Webkinz, which are adorable plush animals with their very own website. My daughter Lucie, who’s six, knows all about them and how each comes with an Internet code so you can play games with and take care of your new plush pet online. Since my daughter thinks stuffed animals are real – what six year old doesn’t – this makes perfect sense to her.

Well, Ganz, the makers of the Webkinz World™ website, recently launched Webkinz Jr.™, huggable oversized ultra-soft plush pets with a friendly world of imaginative interactive play for younger kids ages 3 to 6.

While playing, your child can visit all the places in the Webkinz Jr. neighborhood including your own home, school, the park, the caring center, playhouse and the W Shop. You can set the level at which your child plays and review his/her progress along the way. Also, unlike the Webkinz site, there is no social networking features so your child is totally safe. Take the tour to learn more.

Welcome to the Circus: Juggling Family and Writing

Ann Whitford Paul is the author of numerous children’s books, and also writes poetry. Her latest book is Writing Picture Books: A Hands-On Guide from Story Creation to Publication from Reader’s Digest Books.

In it, Ann covers researching the picture books market, creating characters, point of view, plotting, tips on writing rhyme, and more-all the lessons writers need to write great picture books that will appeal to both editors/agents and young readers/parents.

Welcome to the circus: juggling family and writing

Ann is the mother of two girls and two boys. When asked about juggling family and writing, she says it’s not an easy task. To help, she gives writer mamas these seven suggestions on getting your writing work done:

1. Remind yourself that living is collecting material for writing.  Consider this your gathering phase.  Instead of working on longer projects, you might find it easier to write poems and journal entries, or collect a story file, to use later when you have more time.

2. Never do housework while the children are napping or in school.  Reserve that as your writing time.  Then when the kids are with you let them help dust or mix up the meat loaf for supper or play alongside you while vacuuming  Children need to know what is required to keep a house going.

Win a bracelet making kit in the Bejeweled Giveaway contest

Have you ever wanted to start your own handmade jewelry store on Etsy or Silkfair, but didn't know where to start?  Maybe you already enjoy scrapbooking and knitting and thought beading might be worth a try, but weren't sure about the investment.

Now you can win a bracelet making kit plus $75 in product - a $100 value - by entering the "Bejeweled Giveaway" contest.  Ten readers across the Momfluence network blogs will be chosen to win!

But there's more!  Those ten winners will be able to submit a picture of their completed bracelet to the House of Gems, and one will be chosen to receive a $250 gift certificate, enough product to really jump start your business.

I Love my kids more when they’re at camp

Listening to The Prairie Home Companion this weekend, I heard Garrison Keillor say about the first weeks of summer:

“Monday was the first day of vacation….Parents were left with their children, already feeling cranky just after a week of being with them…

Parents are not meant to be with their children all the time…Children are supposed to go off to camp.The more camps the better…

We love you. It doesn’t mean we want to see you. Sometimes it’s best to love you in absentia.”

Garrison must have been reading my mind about how I feel this summer about my kids. Check out my latest at Rocky Mountain Moms Blog - In praise of summer camp for all the details.

Daniel Craig stars in Defiance: A DVD Review

Defiance is based on an extraordinary true story of a band of brothers, the Bielskis, who sheltered refugee Jews hiding in the forests of Bela-Russia from the invading Nazis – and turned them into resistance fighters.

The Denver Post called Defiance, “nearly too lovely and familiar for its ugly subject matter.” I disagree. A story about a group of ordinary people doing extra-ordinary things should be told in a beautiful way. It’s a story of the evil men do to each other, but more importantly how the need for revenge isn’t as important as family, love, or survival – and saving everyone no matter how old, how sick, how young or if they were a man or a woman.

Defiance stars Daniel Craig (Quantum of Solace), Liev Schreiber (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) and Jamie Bell (Flags Of Our Fathers). I enjoyed the movie very much because it involved straight story telling and no special effects or Hollywood BS. Just a powerful tale of the good guys winning over the bad ones and how you need to keep persevering no matter how tough things get.

To learn more about the real story behind the movie, check out the Defiance movie website. You’ll also be able to enjoy the stirring music from the movie, and find resource links to more stories of the Holocaust and Jewish resistance.

(Thanks to Click Communications for the review copy.)