Parenting: Here we go, a Monitor blog for parents
As we launched聽Modern Parenthood, there was great discussion about what the Monitor 鈥� an international daily online newspaper 鈥� could bring to the parenting discussion.
We thought a lot about what we 鈥� as parents who want to raise good global citizens 鈥� are interested in ourselves. We care about the world and want our kids to, too, in everything from the way they treat each other, us, and the larger society they live in, to the ways they use technology, from video games and social media to Internet research for homework.听
We have been as fascinated by the Tiger Mother as we were her ideological mothering opposite, the francophile 叠茅产茅 mom. We have pondered David Brooks鈥� 鈥淭he Social Animal,鈥� an amazing psychological odyssey through the behaviorial DNA of a hypothetical family鈥檚 successes and failures, morals and motives. We follow educational debates (the merits of testing, homework, and teacher performance), we think a lot about about the coarsening of our world, from the media鈥檚 sexualization of children to real and portrayed violence. We think about technology and want to co-opt its better nature for the benefit of our kids and find ways to solve its worst problems.
We also had to admit, we鈥檙e sometimes fascinated by the popular stories about how high-profile families 鈥� from the Brangelinas to the听翱产补尘补蝉 鈥� live their lives; after all, for better or worse, the ravenous media make them influential.
Our aim is to bring light and leaven to family stories that would interest our thoughtful readers, no matter what role they hold 鈥� mom, dad, kid, aunt, uncle, grandparent.
Our growing roster of guest bloggers is full of big thinkers, great writers, and funny observers who will translate news and trends through a parenting filter. Our lead blogger, Stephanie Hanes 鈥� a Yale grad, who spent some intense years reporting for the Monitor from Africa,聽and returned as a mother to the States to report magazine cover stories on family trends for us 鈥� will set the tone for much of our family focus. And we have many regular Monitor news contributors who will occasionally pitch in their own blogs on family matters 鈥� whether it鈥檚 their own experiences, observations of news trends, or snippets from their reporter鈥檚 notebooks from far away places (wait till you read our Mexico City bureau chief Sara Miller Llana鈥檚 blog on a Mexican mom鈥檚 tortilla-making expertise). All of them are the kind of people who鈥檇 pique your interest if you fell into conversation with them at the playground, Starbucks, or a PTA meeting.
Whether you have toddlers or teens or an empty nest, we want our family lens to magnify topics important to you 鈥� and we hope you鈥檒l communicate regularly with us 鈥� privately at by , or publicly on t 鈥� to let us know if we are. 聽聽聽
