Type-A Parent

Memorial Day Edition of Talk of the Parent Blogosphere

Valerie — Fri, 24 May 2013 10:27:15 +0000

This week the parent blogosphere featured posts about the tragic Oklahoma tornados, Memorial Day crafts and activities for kids, and some travel tips to keep your sanity during road trips or vacations. Oklahoma Tornados: Many parents faced questions from their kids about tornados, and to help answer those, Jill from Blessed Beyond a Doubt shared Teach Your Children About Tornados (with a BIG list of resources) that may be helpful. Sheila at Pennies of Time shared Acts of Kindness in Times of Crisis pointing out that acts of kindness do not need to huge in order to be meaningful and make a difference. Here at Type-A Parent, we published a list of ways to help the Oklahoma tornado victims and encouraged people to add links to their own posts. Memorial Day and Summer Planning: With the upcoming Memorial Day holiday weekend, Allison from No Time for Flashcards posted 13 Crafts and Activities for Memorial Day. Catherine at The Evolving Mommy shared her family’s Summer Bucket List. Memorial Day also means lots of travel for many families, and to help with that, Tiffany at Peanut Blossom shared some great Road Trip Sanity Savers. Beth Gordon at 123 Homeschool 4 Me shared 50+ Ideas for Car Trip Fun. Blogging and Vlogging: Do you vlog? Hillary at My Scraps posted why she vlogs and even shared tips for those who would like to get started vlogging. Dresden at Creating Motherhood wrote a post explaining blogging and why we need blogging mentors. What did ...

Disney Social Media Moms Celebration – My Experience Plus a Blog Post Roundup

Kelby Carr — Thu, 23 May 2013 17:09:06 +0000

I recently attended the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration. As a writer with a strong background in travel writing (especially family travel topics) dating back to the 1990s and spanning travel guide books, newspaper articles and magazine articles, I always find Walt Disney World to be a fascinating and impressive experience. From every cast member I encounter to the people who run this social media conference, everyone is so helpful, friendly and just plain nice. They have the ultimate brand consistency. NOTE: If you attended the conference and have written your own post, be sure to submit it to the linky at the bottom of this post… As a conference organizer, I also geek out on how Disney Parks pull of an event. The setting is already oozing with atmosphere and presence, but it’s the little things. I am a firm believer that it’s the little things that count and are often most overlooked (both as a travel writer and as a conference organizer, not to mention simply as a consumer AND as a business owner). Somehow, miraculously, a conference nestled in the midst of an epic park with what I can only imagine are thousands of people their every single day managed to make us all feel special. You can see the attention to detail everywhere you turn. Like these beautiful centerpieces with a tiny hidden Mickey at one of the evening dinners: I swear, every single time I lay eyes on the castle on Main Street at ...

How to Help the Oklahoma Tornado Victims

Kelby Carr — Tue, 21 May 2013 12:33:23 +0000

I woke up this morning before my alarm went off, my first thought of the children still not found in the rubble at Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Oklahoma. It is hard to think about anything else, and I just can’t imagine posting about anything else. For me, Oklahoma is far away but my own children are the age of those victims. It shakes me to my core. I want to DO something. I can’t make it go away or make it better, but I want to do what little I can to help. So here is me doing that. I am collecting ways to help here, and if I missed some please leave comments with any and all details you have (including links if there is a website, post or page with more information). Blog, tweet, update, plus and share any way you can One thing that is wonderful about the influence of bloggers is that we have audiences, readers and followers. One great way for you to help is to just spread the word. Write a blog post like this one (hey, it cannot possibly be written too much, as we all reach different people). If you see tweets about a way to help or a resource for finding loved ones, retweet them. Share ways to donate on Facebook and Google+. Beyond my post, there is a great list of ways to help at U.S. News, and Cool Mom Picks has a post on how to help ...

Call for Paid Blog Post Ideas (Special Edition through Summer)

Kelby Carr — Tue, 14 May 2013 18:25:17 +0000

I have been thinking a lot lately that I want to clear my deck for summer. I am probably not attending any conferences this summer (although I may end up needing to, but my goal is to reduce business travel as much as possible). I am trying to get a lot of work done now to plan ahead for the summer. I just got back from this year’s Disney Social Media Moms Celebration (it was amazing, by the way! Watch for more posts on that…), and it dawned on me when this seed of taking the summer off to focus on family was planted. At last year’s event, they mentioned the term “eighteen summers.” It really stuck with me. I know some days (especially the ones with many fights and tantrums), parenthood seems to last a long time. But that term. That “eighteen summers.” It stuck with me. So I am rambling a bit, but for that reason I am hoping to assign, edit and schedule a summer’s worth of posts in the next two or three weeks. I have a few great topics we will be covering at Type-A Parent over the summer (from WordPress themes to camping tips, and from July 4th to back to school). If you have ideas, please apply for a paid blog post assignment. And of course, I will still be around all summer, but I hope to be a lot more focused elsewhere. If the application doesn’t load properly below, go directly to ...

Mother’s Day Edition of Talk of The Parent Blogosphere

Lisa Frame — Fri, 10 May 2013 11:38:53 +0000

After last weeks Social Media Ethics Talk of the Parent Blogosphere, I’ve decided this week should start off with something a little lighter. We’re all thinking and talking about Mom. Whether it’s your mom, or your role as a mother, we’re celebrating the Wonder Woman in all of you (or them). What do women want for Mother’s Day? After a little informal polling on my own, the top answers were sleep and quiet. Personally, I want to go to bed early, sleep until eight a.m. and wake up to coffee and the newspaper in bed. Follow that up with proper afternoon tea and I’ll be putty in your hands. Motherhood is messy and once you have children, you’ll never use the bathroom alone. Scary Mommy, Jill Smokler, is taking the scary out of Mother’s Day and speaking the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Going where no other mom dare go, she tackles real life with images to send family and friends telling it like it is. Corine Ingrassia is steering everyone in this right direction this Mother’s Day with guide of great Last Minute Gifts, while Melissa Chapman at Married My Sugar Daddy is sharing geek chic with her Big Bang Theory inclusions. Has your Mom ever said anything that shocked you? Kim Molodofsky did this week when she asked for a weed-whacker for Mother’s Day. Books, how do we love thee, let us count the pages and stacks sitting around our homes. Andrea Katz has done a great ...

This Mother’s Day, Help Another Mom Give Her Child a Shot at Life

Kelby Carr — Wed, 08 May 2013 03:00:30 +0000

This Mother’s Day, I hope you will all join me in donating $20 as a Mother’s Day gift to a mom less fortunate so her child can have a shot at a healthy life. I really appreciate the fact that my children live in a country where they can get immunizations and health care. At the last Type-A Parent Conference, our official cause was Shot@Life. It is part of the UN Foundation. It is a movement to protect children worldwide by providing life-saving vaccines where they are most needed. I am joining with other bloggers to urge you to donate, and to go to visit the hub page to make comments ($1 will be donated for each comment! See details and links below). Disclosure – Give aways donated to show appreciation and will be selected via random.org Link up, comment and share with Sisters From Another Mister and 20 awesome bloggers Making a difference May 8th thro May 18th FUNDRAISING ON BEHALF OF GLOBAL MOMS Each blogger has linked a post about Motherhood with Sisters From Another Mister to raise awareness for the importance of global vaccinations and called on her readers, fans, friends and family to pledge, to donate and to help make a difference. Consider writing a post, donating to link and sharing the link up between May 8th and May 18th. You can leave as many comments as you like on the main page with a min. $1 donation for each comment. Both linkers and commenters will be ...

Walt Disney World Vacation Planner

Kelby Carr — Mon, 06 May 2013 13:04:27 +0000

As the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration begins this week, mom and dad bloggers are descending (many with families) Thursday on Walt Disney World. I wanted to share some of the best Disney World tips from Type-A Parent to help with your trip planning (whether you’re attending the conference or just planning a Disney vacation), as well as include a linky below so any of you with posts including Walt Disney World planning tips can share below. To get the tips, just click the post name or its image to see the full article. Best Free Apps for Walt Disney World What to Pack for Walt Disney World (That You Didn’t Know You Needed) Cheap Eats at Walt Disney World Walt Disney World Child Safety Tips – How NOT To Lose Your Kid at Disney World 10 Ways to Experience Walt Disney World to the Fullest Top 5 Character Meals at Walt Disney World Share Your Walt Disney World Posts Have you blogged about Walt Disney World? Have a post with tips or your own experiences there? Be sure to share it in the linky below. NOTE: You must share the permalink to the post, not the link to your homepage. Where it says “NAME” you must enter the post title! Loading InLinkz …

Social Media Ethics Edition of Talk of the Parent Blogosphere

Kelby Carr — Fri, 03 May 2013 17:30:31 +0000

This has not been a proud week for the parent blogosphere. I am just going to come right out and say it… especially after last week we so proudly and in a (relatively) unified voice declared that the Wall Street Journal’s characterization of mom bloggers as unprofessional was way off base. I still believe so firmly that it is a misrepresentation, that it doesn’t capture the essence of what we are and what we accomplish every single day. But still, it just wouldn’t be social media without a few scandals. Such is the way of life in the online fishbowl, unfortunately. First, we had Marshallgate. Disney Film publicist Marshall Weinbaum posted the photo to the right of him at a movie premiere blogger event, along with bloggers in a subservient pose below him on his Facebook page. This immediately resulted in backlash on Facebook and in blog posts. I think it was a poor decision for the publicist and the bloggers (I won’t even begin to rant about how bad it is to depict bloggers as worshiping publicists, and yes I do have a pretty twisted sense of humor but still…). Regardless, I think the message of Marshall’s critics was in many ways lost when they resorted to tactics like name calling. David Griner blogged about the controversy at AdWeek. And then there was the Babble post containing plagiarized content. Yeah, that. Amy Lupold Bair did a thoughtful post about the plagiarism, as well as how the way we behave ...

World Immunization Week – Bloggers Please Join in the Mother’s Day Meme and Donate $20

Kelby Carr — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:21:19 +0000

In case you were unaware, this week is World Immunization week, the perfect time to talk about the importance of global vaccinations. Nicole of Sisters From Another Mister, together with shot@life and the United Nations Foundation are very happy to announce a link up to share our stories about motherhood. A Mother’s day meme link up opening on May 8th and running until the 18th. We invite you to join us on this journey. And just who are WE? And what is this quest? With a mantra of, Every twenty seconds a child dies of a preventable disease. Only twenty dollars saves the life of a child. Twenty bloggers are making a difference! It gives me great pleasure to introduce you to these amazing twenty bloggers. Each one looking to make a difference in the world. Twenty bloggers were invited to be a part of this link up, I am ONE of them! And here we are. In spite of their very busy lives, they have all pledged to make a difference. Not only donating to the fundraising for this campaign, but also donating their time and blogging resources. I hope that you find it in your heart to do the same! Our words will raise awareness for global vaccinations and raise money for those who do not have the means to help themselves … because every child deserves a shot@life On May 8th, the link up will be live on Sisters From Another Mister. Each photo on the grid ...

How to Avoid a Public Relations Crisis, for Publicists and Bloggers

Sarah Pinnix — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 12:18:40 +0000

If you are in the public eye, you may at some point in your career have to deal with a crisis. Politician, CEO, celebrity, blogger or public relations professional, you are not immune. The crisis that presents itself may be as insignficant as a birthday candle’s flame, quickly extinguished. It could become a towering inferno that rivals Dante’s creation. Usually, there is one factor that determines whether the spark is blown out or fanned into flame: your reaction. Whether you meant to be edgy or not, you had a momentary lapse of judgment and posted something you shouldn’t have. Maybe your statements were misinterpreted or taken out of context. Maybe the CEO of your company said something controversial, and the public unleashed on the brand. Or perhaps you were just going along minding your own business, when activists hijacked your Twitter hashtag. While controversy can’t always be avoided, there are a few steps you can take to avoid the crossfire of a public relations crisis. 1. Develop a Crisis Risk List Stop and think of the possible things that could go wrong, and then make a list. Divide those items into groups for mild, moderate and severe risk. Sure, we can’t predict everything, but we can get into the practice of looking at an action and foreseeing the possible ramifications. For a blogger, the list may include accidentally disclosing confidential information, unknowingly offending a certain race, gender or person with a special need, tweeting via the wrong account or having ...