December 27, 2024
Dear Reader,
Along with our Board of Directors, I send you and your family warm greetings and best wishes for health and happiness.
During the holidays, I've been very grateful to be able to enjoy time together with my children and grandchildren. I'm also dismayed about how much pain and violence there is in the U.S. and around the world. How do national and international conflicts impact our day-to-day lives? And can we have an impact on any of this?
In May, our message for Mother’s Day pointed to the origins of the day—a call for peace—as recounted by historian Heather Cox Richardson. We established a letter campaign calling for peace, and we've kept it featured on our website. Anyone can use it to send a message to the President, Vice-President, and the sender's Congressional representatives.
We invite you to join us in calling for peace; just click on the image below. We wrote a simple message—you can edit it, replace it, or add to it.
Both by nurturing our children and by speaking up for all children, we are working for peace and justice.
We speak up for all children in our advocacy for all families. Early in 2024, we wrote a message to members of a Congressional working group on paid leave. We urged them to set aside the focus on “working families” and instead make policies for ALL families. Please read it here: Paid leave for all families.
Years ago, renowned pediatricians T.Berry Brazelton, M.D. and Stanley I. Greenspan, M.D., coauthored a book, The Irreducible Needs of Children: What Every Child Must Have to Grow, Learn and Flourish. (See our review.) The first need Drs. Brazelton and Greenspan identified is the need for ongoing, nurturing relationships:
In the last chapter the doctors address the global impact of the time we devote to nurturing our children:
This is one of the ways we share the message on social media:
Perhaps in the coming year we will finally find a foundation willing to fund our work. For now, we count on individual donors to cover our modest expenses and count on volunteers to accomplish our work.
Many of you have given us essential financial support for years. We appreciate you so much; we cannot continue without you. Contributions of any amount help! If everyone receiving this email gave $18, it would cover our expenses for the next year. Please donate if you can!
We look forward to moving into our fifth decade, offering parents affirmation, information and advocacy, speaking out about the critical importance of parent-child time together, and learning more about how to protect the future for all children!
All the best to you and your families,
Cathy Myers
cmyers@familyandhome.org
P.S. I spent a lot of time this past year "behind the scenes"—seeking out new technology options that reduce our expenses (I’m still learning to use them). Also, in news about social media, we’ve stopped using Twitter/X and are establishing a presence on BlueSky, and we have a new LinkedIn account.
Our 40th Anniversary Project:
A Stay-at-home Mother page on Wikipedia
In 2024, in celebration of our 40th Anniversary, Family and Home Network ventured into the world of Wikipedia. We had discovered that Wikipedia’s “Stay-at-Home Mother” page automatically redirected to the “Housewife” page. We set out to change that with a well-written and referenced “Stay at Home Mother” page. Willow Duttge Tepper, a member of our Board of Directors, led this project, and we wrote and edited through the winter and spring. Willow learned the Wikipedia guidelines about writing, formatting, and editing. She posted our new page in early May, and we notified the organizations and professionals we had cited. We received many thoughtful and warm messages in response.
We were honored to be interviewed by Lisa Reagan, Editor of Kindred Media, who for decades has been learning and leading the way to a wisdom-based, wellness-informed society. Family and Home Network is a partner with Kindred, and you can learn more about their "New Story of our Human Family" and read Lisa's article about our project on their website. Listen to the interview on YouTube or SoundCloud.
Listen to our interview about the Wikipedia Stay-at-home mother page!
Trouble? At the end of the summer, we saw that an editor had proposed merging the Stay-at-Home Mother page with the Housewife page and opened a discussion (Talk) about that proposal. We wrote an “Oppose” comment from our organization, and two of our Board members also posted “Oppose” comments.
Resolved: In November, a more senior Wikipedia editor made the decision to keep the pages separate and close the discussion. (Phew)
Family policies?!?
In 2024, there were many interesting things said about at-home parents in policy and media: some positive, others negative. Will there will be any change in family policymaking? Even the most experienced policy professionals seem reluctant to make predictions. We will continue to speak up and participate in meetings of advocates for ALL families as a member of the ABC Coalition (Automatic Benefit for Children). And we'll continue to remind policymakers that families are diverse, and all care for children is essential and valuable.
Play, play, play
A new resource - inspired by an older one!
Years ago, we posted our review of this book:
Recently, we discovered Playful Heart Parenting on Instagram (there's a website, too). Mia, the mom creating it, was inspired by Attachment Play and brings her experiences in theatre to coming up with many wonderful ideas. Mia says: "I love sharing ideas, tips, and templates for connecting with kids through low-to-no budget, waste-free, creative play." Check it out!
See more resources on Play and more in the Resources listings on our website.
