Send a Tweet and Help Save the Lives of Newborns

March 29, 2013 by The Motherhood

So when Dr. Gary L. Darmstadt of the Gates Foundation told us that nearly 3 million newborn babies around the world die each year from conditions that are preventable and treatable, we immediately wanted to join his effort to help save lives. Dr. Darmstadt (@gdarmsta) and the Gates Foundation are conducting a wonderful and unique 28-day Twitter campaign to share facts about newborn health and help save the lives of newborns around the world. The 28 days of the campaign represent the critical first 28 days of a newborn’s life when they are most at risk.

The campaign will lead up to the first EVER Global Newborn Health Conference in South Africa from April 15-18. The conference will focus on how to educate people around the world about the simple things that can be done to reverse the trend of newborn deaths.

Visit newborn2013.com

Join us at The Motherhood in helping Dr. Darmstadt and the Gates Foundation save the lives of newborns. It’s simple! Just join Dr. Darmstadt’s Catapult page or retweet some of the newborn health facts from @gdarmsta using the hashtag #Newborn2013.

Would you take a 21 Day Challenge for better oral care?

March 28, 2013 by The Motherhood

Well, would you? Seventy bloggers and their families did. And it changed their lives!

The Motherhood partnered with LISTERINE on this 21 Day Challenge, asking 70 families to brush, floss and rinse twice daily for 21 days and then report back to us with their results. And they were fantastic!

Colleen of Shibley Smiles‘ dentist told her she would need more than $700 worth of dental cleaning – but when she went back to his office after taking the challenge, he said she was in the clear: “So I give Listerine my 100% Seal of Approval,” she noted in a blog post following the dental visit. “It is things like this, challenges asked of me, campaigns that I’m a part of that I would never have done on my own that make me so excited to share with you honesty and truth about a product. Here is to keeping this smile healthy!”

Christi of Frugal Novice raved about adding LISTERINE to her daily routine and how it made her mouth feel much cleaner:

“Our mouths definitely feel cleaner after participating in the challenge – it’s hard to explain, but there’s just a freshness you get from using Listerine that covers every inch of your mouth, and it makes you realize how much you’ve been missing by just brushing. We’ll definitely be sticking with the challenge well beyond the 21 days, and we know our mouths will be the better for it.”

But taking care of your mouths isn’t just necessary … it can be FUN! Check out all the smiles. 🙂

(Photos from OC Mom Blog, Being Frugal and Making It Work, Boyz Rule Our World)

If you’re interested in taking the challenge yourself, you can find LISTERINE products at Walmart. Sign up for the official challenge on the LISTERINE Facebook page.

Child Hunger Ends Here: BlissDom Recap

March 28, 2013 by The Motherhood

The BlissDom conference took place in Dallas last week, and The Motherhood was there to watch it all unfold. It is always so lovely to meet our blogger friends in person and put faces to names! Thank you to all the ladies who welcomed us with open arms.

We were also thrilled to help the Child Hunger Ends Here team tweet their way to a stunning 186,426 meals donated over just three days – each #ChildHunger tweet represented a donation of two meals throughout the conference, and BlissDom attendees and non-attendees alike went bananas tweeting for those kids. Thanks to everyone who tweeted to help trigger donations!! (Disclosure: The Motherhood is working on a compensated program for Child Hunger Ends Here. We absolutely believe in the cause and are thrilled to do our part to help the nearly 17 million kids in the United States who may not know where their next meal is coming from.)

The amazing Amber Riley – you might know her as Mercedes from the TV show Glee – was also on hand to support Child Hunger Ends Here during a performance on Friday night. She revved up the crowd with an Adele mashup and her rendition of the song “Fill A Heart,” written especially for the Child Hunger Ends Here cause. You can download Amber’s version of the song for free here.

We’re working with some amazing ladies to help the Child Hunger Ends Here cause over the next several months! You can check out some of their blog posts here, and use the code entry widgets located in their sidebars to enter codes from participating products and trigger additional meal donations:

Amy, Mom Spark

Brett, This Mama Loves…

Danielle, We Have It All

Jennifer, Double Duty Mommy

Jill, Just Jilly

Jodi, Mom’s Favorite Stuff

Julie, Julieverse

Migdalia, Latina on a Mission

Wendy, Around My Family Table

Yoly, Cuponeando

Community Collaboration with Blick Art Room Aid!

March 6, 2013 by The Motherhood

Here at The Motherhood, we love when communities work together! We had an incredible opportunity recently to work with bloggers in communities all over the United States as they collaborated with local teachers on an art-related project inspired by Blick Art Room Aid.

Blick Art Room Aid is a program that was begun by Blick Art Materials to give art educators the resources to equip their classes for success! As arts education funding is being cut, unfortunately, in many school districts, this program has created a way for teachers to continue fostering creativity and art appreciation in the classroom.

How it works: Teachers create wish lists consisting of art supplies for specific projects or general needs. These wish lists are published online, and potential sponsors can view the lists and make contributions by either selecting specific supplies to purchase and donate or by making a monetary contribution to the art project.

Blick has also supported art education in other ways, such as sponsoring art scholarships and offering online lesson plans for teachers. They understand the importance of community collaboration and supporting arts education and creativity in our kids, and that is one of the many reasons that we love Blick!

The Motherhood is super excited to have the opportunity to help a classroom right here in our area. We’re collecting contributions for a local preschool and we can’t wait to get beautiful art materials into the kids’ hands!

Check out the list we made for the school HERE! If you’re inclined to make a contribution of even a dollar or two, it will be much appreciated.

How important do YOU think art is in your children’s education? Ninety-seven percent of the general population feel it’s important to expose children to art in school. Learn more with this interesting infographic from Blick!