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MomRN’s Nutrisystem Nation Update: Week 12

October 12, 2012 By MomRN Leave a Comment

Another week has nearly passed – where does the time go? The old saying “Time flies when you’re having fun” is definitely true!

Tomorrow will be the last day of week 12. I can’t believe it has been 3 months since I started the Nutrisystem Nation Blogger Program. On the flip side, I can’t believe all the changes in my body and health in such a relatively short period of time!

Since beginning this journey, I’ve lost 14 pounds and dropped 2 pants sizes and have more energy, sleep better, and my skin looks better. Overall, I FEEL healthier and believe I’m setting a positive example for my family.

Speaking of families, I have talked a lot about the problem of childhood obesity here on MomRN.com and on my radio show, Ask MomRN Show. It is an epidemic that is out of control, with over 23 million kids and teenagers between the ages of 2 – 19 years of age falling into the categories of overweight or obese. Sadly, these kids are developing health complications that were previously only seen in adults and these problems will follow them into adulthood if no one intervenes. This generation of kids may be the first to have a shorter life-span than their parents, if something doesn’t change for the better. Because of this, Nutrisystem has developed a program specifically designed for the needs of teenagers from ages 14 to 17 years of age.

The Nutrisystem for Teens program “is designed to offer a simple, healthy weight loss approach that provides the nutrition growing bodies need and integrates both the family and the physician to ensure safety and maximize success.” A manual is provided to the family to assist the teen while on the program. Family support is important for adults (my family has been very supportive of me and that has helped so much) and it is even more so for kids and teenagers.

To learn more about the Nutrisystem for Teens program, call: 1-888-995-3438. If your teenager is struggling with his or her weight, I’d encourage you to check it out.

If you are the one struggling with weight issues, do you want to lose weight and get healthy on Nutrisystem like me? Join today by calling 1-888-853-4689 or by visiting http://www.nutrisystem.com/nsblog today!

For my male friends who have asked if Nutrisystem works for men, the answer is yes! I saw Terry Bradshaw last night on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and he mentioned how he lost weight thanks to Nutrisystem and loved it. If you’ve not seen his commercials or read his story of how the Men’s Core program worked for him, take a look!

FTC Disclosure: I was selected to participate in the Nutrisystem Nation Blogger Program which includes receiving meals, support, and program materials related to the Women’s Nutrisystem Success program in exchange for my honest reviews and opinions about the program through blog posts, videos, and social media posts. I have received no compensation and am under no obligation to provide favorable reviews. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Filed Under: family, health Tagged With: childhood obesity, kids, men, Nutrisystem Nation Blogger Program, teens, weight, weight loss, women

AboutOne Keeps Busy Families Organized on the Go

August 19, 2012 By MomRN Leave a Comment

If you are anything like me, not only are you a busy parent, but you also have many other responsibilities that you juggle every day. Kids are a full-time job and when you add in work, household tasks, and everything else you have to take care of, it is no wonder many of us feel disorganized and overwhelmed at times. Sound familiar? Want a solution? AboutOne just might offer the answer for how to get organized for yourself and your family.

AboutOne is a new online organizer that launched it’s BETA version earlier this year. I learned of AboutOne at the Type-A Parent Conference I spoke at in June. As an attendee, I was offered a free account to test it out. I haven’t used it a lot yet, but already I am learning of several ways AboutOne could be useful to me and my family. I look forward to the launch of the full version with even more capabilities and the ability to sync my Google and Outlook calendars with the AboutOne Family Calendar, since I use both of those calendars every day. Being able to sync them both and have all the info in one calendar so I can easily check my schedule would be very helpful.

One of the great features this family organizer offers is the ability to keep track of important health information for each member of your family. You can input health histories and medications for each individual. As a nurse, I know how vitally important it is to have this information handy and accessible in the event of a medical emergency. In fact, it was this very need that led to AboutOne’s creation. Founder and CEO Joanne Lang is a mom of four young boys, one of whom had a medical emergency while she was away from home. Not being able to access and provide a list of her son’s medications to the paramedics left her feeling there had to a way to have that information readily available at all times, along with other important family, individual, and household information.

In addition to health and household info, I plan to use AboutOne this school year to track all the necessary information and documents needed for my youngest child, who is a senior in high school. College applications and financial aid applications require a huge amount of information and if we can organize it all into one place that either of us can access from our computers and mobile phones, it will make the process much smoother. For that reason alone, AboutOne couldn’t have come along at a better time for us!

Want to see some of the other features and ways AboutOne can help you keep your family and household organized? Check out this fun video by Carley Knobloch, Founder of Digitwirl:

One more thing I really, really like about this particular online organizer is their commitment to keeping your personal information private and secure. AboutOne takes their clients’ privacy seriously so they use bank-level security measure to insure that no one has access to your information without your authorization. They also back up your data on a regular basis so you don’t have to worry about losing it.

Now it is your turn! What features you want in an online organizer? What would make your life easier? The creative team at AboutOne wants to hear from you as they add new features to help their customers. I will share your comments with them, so please let us know!

FTC Disclosure: I was compensated for my work by AboutOne to review their online organizer. All opinions and text are my own honest and true ones and not influenced by anyone else.

Filed Under: family, health Tagged With: AboutOne, family, health, kids, online, organizer

Go Back to School with PaperDirect

July 26, 2012 By MomRN Leave a Comment

The start of a new school year is just around the corner for many kids and that means it’s time to shop for school supplies. Teachers and parents alike will be purchasing paper, pencils, and all the necessities for school. While adults want quality and a great price, kids want fun stuff! PaperDirect can make both parties happy with their line of education-themed products.

Teachers will want to check out the cute, colorful education border papers for sending notes home to parents. Check out my favorite:

Classroom banners can be used to label an area of a classroom, to announce students who have earned honors, or to add to a fun classroom theme. Parents can use their adorable notecards to send notes to the teacher and kids will love receiving awards certificates like this one:

Whether you need note paper, cards, brochures, postcards, awards certificates, banners, or labels, PaperDirect has all that and more to help you with your Back to School shopping. They also offer a full line of business and personal paper products, including report and presentation supplies and invitations. Many of their products can be custom printed to fit any occasion. If you want to check out the quality of their products before ordering, they will even send you a free sample!

Have you started shopping for school supplies yet? Which of the PaperDirect products do you like best?

Disclosure: This sponsored post was made possible by Mom Spark Media. I was compensated for my time investment and work on this campaign. Thoughts are my own.

Filed Under: family, parenting Tagged With: kids, Mom Spark Media, PaperDirect, parents, school, supplies, teachers

Giving every child a shot at a healthy life with Shot@Life

July 23, 2012 By MomRN 5 Comments

Remember how much fun it was to make mud pies when you were a kid? Creating masterpieces out of dirt and water and enjoying the way the mud squished between your fingers and toes is a memory shared by many, especially those of us who grew up in the days before video games and computers. Ah, the simple pleasures of childhood!

Childhood memories often elicit warm, fuzzy feelings of days gone by. And that is as it should be. But what about those children who never live long enough to have made those wonderful childhood memories that we take for granted?

It is hard to believe in our world of modern medicine and technology, but every 20 seconds, a child dies of a vaccine-preventable disease. That’s 1.5 million children dying every year from these diseases. Most of these children live in 3rd world countries where access to vaccines and medical care is limited at best and non-existent at worst. It may be easy to look the other way and pretend it isn’t happening when it isn’t in your backyard, but try to imagine for a moment if your child was one of the unfortunate ones. Put yourself in the shoes of a mother who wants her child to be protected from deadly diseases but has no way to do so because of lack of access. Now imagine your child contracting rotavirus or pneumonia, some of the diseases that take the lives of thousands of children each year. How would you feel? What would you do? Would you feel helpless as you watched your child suffer, knowing he could die? It is horrific enough for us to just imagine. But it is the cold, harsh reality for too many parents in areas without medical care access where children die every day from these and other diseases that could have been prevented.

How fortunate we are in our country to have eradicated certain diseases and greatly lessened the transmission and number of cases of other diseases through vaccines. Vaccination efforts in other countries have also helped on a global scale. Thanks to a coordinated global effort, the number of new cases of polio – a disease that once paralyzed more than 1,000 children a day – has dropped 99 percent in the last 20 years. The world is now nearly polio-free.

The Measles Initiative has vaccinated one billion children in 60 developing countries since 2001 and has decreased measles deaths by 74 percent; changing measles from a disease that used to be the leading killer of children to one that we are close to eliminating altogether. That is wonderful news, but we can’t stop now, when there are still children dying from these and other diseases that we can help prevent.

As I nurse, I’ve seen firsthand what some of these vaccine-preventable diseases can do and the suffering they cause. I would not wish for any child to have to endure that suffering, or any parent to have to witness it. I’ve seen parents lose children to various causes and it makes me even more determined to do whatever I can to spare another parent from having to go through that tragedy. So I am proud to support Shot@Life to help ensure access to vaccines to children everywhere.

Shot@Life is a movement by the United Nations Foundation to protect children worldwide by providing life-saving vaccines where they are most needed. Shot@Life aims to garner the support of Americans because with our help, they can provide more vaccines in a cost-effective way to as many children as possible.

According to their website, Shot@Life.org:

“By encouraging Americans to learn about, advocate for, and donate to vaccines, Shot@Life aims to decrease vaccine-preventable childhood deaths and give every child a shot at a healthy life.”

Now is the time to get involved and assist those who have not previously had access to these life-saving vaccines. Won’t you please visit their website and find out how to help? Through supporting Shot@Life, we can all help prevent these illnesses and give more children the chance to make happy childhood memories. After all, doesn’t every child deserve a shot at making mud pies?

Filed Under: family, health Tagged With: childhood, disease, health, kids, Shot@Life, United Nations Foundation, vaccines

Bully: A Movie and a Movement

April 10, 2012 By MomRN 1 Comment

Thanks to The Bully Project for sponsoring my writing. Visit their website to join the movement and learn more.

In the past several weeks, there has been lots of buzz about the movie, Bully, which has generated many discussions about bullying and what can and/or should be done to put an end to it, especially in our children’s schools. The movie follows five kids and their families as they go through a school year and offers an intimate look at the daily struggles these children face as they are victimized by bullies. The documentary also features the parents of a boy who ended his life after years of torment by bullies.

Due to strong language and intense thematic themes, the film was initially given an R rating but that was amended to a PG-13 rating this past week after the filmmaker, Lee Hirsch, edited out three uses of an explicative during a key scene. Concerns were raised that an R rating would prevent teenagers under the age of 17 from seeing the movie – the very audience who needs to see it most, according to those who petitioned to have the rating changed. Bully is currently playing in select theaters and will be opening nationwide on April 13th.

We’ve talked about the problem of bullying on the Ask MomRN Show in the past and it is an issue that hits home with me. As a child, I was occasionally bullied because I was very short and had a disability (a below-knee prosthetic leg). Fortunately, I had friends who supported me and that helped a great deal. When my oldest child was bullied in school, my husband and I had to get involved because nothing we suggested our child do, to try to stand up to the bully, were working. Fortunately the elementary school principal was very supportive and quickly put an end to the bullying. But middle school was a different story and bullying was one of our reasons for deciding to homeschool our oldest for six and half years.

The emotional and sometimes the physical scars of bullying can linger for the rest of a child’s life. I’m so grateful we were able to give our child the option of homeschooling. Not that bullying doesn’t happen outside of school, but in our case, it was an effective end to the school bullying. Not all families have the option of changing schools or homeschooling. Sometimes even after changing schools, a kid can become a target to new bullies. We have to teach our kids how to have the confidence and ability to stand up to bullies and protect those who are vulnerable. We also have to teach our kids how damaging bullying is and how to have compassion and kindness towards others.

The Bully Project says on their website that this year 13 million kids will be bullied and 3 million of those kids will miss school out of fear. Some kids are bullied to the point of ending their own lives to escape the daily battle. Some act out in raging anger after having had to endure more than they could take any more and sometimes that leads to school shootings and other acts of violence. Some suffer from debilitating depression. And some become bullies themselves to try to regain some sense of power in their lives. The lucky ones come out stronger, kinder, and compassionate because they know what it feels like to be a victim and they don’t want anyone else to be bullied.

I urge you to talk about bullying with your children. What do they see happening at their schools? Are they bullied, or do they kids who are? Is your kid a bully? If so, it is time to put an end to it. If you feel this movie is appropriate for your family, go see it and discuss it afterwards. Since it is not yet playing in any theaters near me, I have not watched it yet (but plan to as soon as I can) so I cannot give you my review of it yet. We will talk more about Bully the movie and The Bully Project on an upcoming episode of the Ask MomRN Show so stay tuned. I hope this movie will be an eye-opener for many and a catalyst for positive change.

I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. Find showings in your area for The Bully Project and buy tickets here.

Filed Under: family, parenting Tagged With: documentary, kids, movie, The Bully Project

Kids and cable television: Parental controls and monitoring

January 19, 2012 By MomRN Leave a Comment

It is becoming quite difficult for the majority of television watchers to ignore the benefits offered by HD cable services, or really any kind of modern cable provider or streaming service. Not only do such services provide extensive lists of new channels, exciting new viewing opportunities, and options for high definition displays, but they also offer far more customization potential that can really help you to turn your television into your own private entertainment domain. This aspect of modern cable services is particularly useful for parents who are seeking to monitor what their children can and cannot watch on television, as advanced packages and products offer plenty of tools and possibilities when it comes to parental control.

One of the best benefits of expansive cable packages, for parents, is actually in the range of available programs itself. While one side of this argument can say that more channels leads to more inappropriate programming for kids to find, it can just as easily be said to lead to more appropriate programming. Generally, kids do not find inappropriate or mature programs because they’re looking for them – they find them by accident, or because they’re bored. So, naturally, if you have a large cable package, you will have more access to shows meant for kids, and you may be able to dissuade your children from wandering much with the remote control, without actually having to enforce restrictions.

Of course, you can still impose restrictions if you so desire, and this tends to be easier with more advanced cable and satellite packages. In most cases, you can simply go through your cable offerings and select either channels or genres, or even individual shows, that you want blocked from your children. From that point on, a password will be required to watch these programs. This may seem a bit strict to a lot of parents, but it is in some cases a necessary security, and again, if you provide enough suitable entertainment for your children, they shouldn’t mind.

Securing these advantages for yourself and for your family may be more simple than you expect. As HD TVs and expansive cable packages have become more popular, many people resist the switch because they feel like such luxuries will be expensive and unnecessary. However, prices have come down on many of these products, and it is becoming increasingly normal for people to indulge in them. It may cost you a bit extra, but for specific concerns such as parental controls, you will be glad you’ve upgraded.

(MomRN’s note: This is a guest editorial post. Thank you to cabletelevision.net for offering this information to our readers.)

Filed Under: family, kids, parenting Tagged With: cable, children, kids, programs, television

Disney’s Cars 2 visits Oklahoma City

November 7, 2011 By MomRN 1 Comment

Disney’s Cars 2 is coming to Oklahoma City’s Quail Springs Mall today! Kids in Oklahoma City have the opportunity to see their favorite characters from the movie and participate in fun events for free!

Come out today to see four-time Piston Cup Champion Lightning McQueen and best friend Mater along with the very savvy British spy Finn McMissile! Take part in a variety of Cars 2- themed activities and fun including a video kiosk, e-photo opportunities, games, inflatable obstacle course, giveaways and much more!

When: Monday, November 7, 2011 from 2pm to 6pm Central Time

Where: Quail Springs Mall
(South Parking Lot in front of AMC Quail Springs Theatre)
2501 West Memorial Road, Oklahoma City, OK 73134

Cost: FREE and open to the public

This will be an exciting event so I hope you’ll come out and join us! MomRN will be covering the event and would love to meet you so if you see me, please come say Hi!

Filed Under: family, kids, parenting Tagged With: Cars 2, Disney, event, family, kids, MomRN, movie

Teaching children healthy dental habits

October 19, 2011 By MomRN 2 Comments

Dental health affects not only our mouths but can impact our overall health and well-being so it is extremely important that we teach our children at a young age how to care for their teeth and gums. That is why MomRN is sharing this guest post from TopDentists.com who offered their tips for teaching our kids how to develop healthy dental habits they can use for the rest of their lives.

Teaching children healthy dental habits
by TopDentists.com

It is easy to forget how important dental care is. After all, taking care of your teeth is not exactly an exciting process. It is relatively boring, and involves a number of care-taking tasks that simply add to the routine each night and morning, and are often tempting to forget or ignore. However, the risks of not properly caring for your teeth are substantial, as unhealthy teeth can be both unattractive and painful, and generally poor oral hygiene can lead to negative side effects, and even disease in some cases. This is why, as parents, it is our responsibility to instill proper habits in, and teach proper techniques to our children when it comes to dental care. For more information on this topic, please visit http://www.topdentists.com/.

Also, the following tips should be particularly helpful.

• To begin with, make sure that your children understand when and how often to brush their teeth. Ideally, they will brush three times each day; however, the most essential times to brush are in the morning and before bed at night. At least twice, and preferably three times each day, your children should brush for 2-3 minutes.

• More importantly, make sure that your children understand how to brush with proper technique and thoroughness. Brushing for 3 minutes at a time is no use if the brushing is lazy or ineffective. Teach your children how to brush with the right amount of pressure (too little and teeth don’t get clean but too much can damage enamel and flatten toothbrush bristles and render them useless), and hit the grooves and in-between spaces, in order to properly clean their teeth. Your child’s dentist or dental hygienist can also show your child how to use proper brushing technique.

• You definitely want to teach your children to floss at a very early age. Many adults are too lazy to floss, or assume that this is an unnecessary aspect of dental care. However, flossing does much to clean between the teeth, and can prevent gums disease. If you teach your children about flossing when they are young, you can instill it as a habit.

• If your child is old enough to not swallow mouthwash, they can use it after brushing, or at intervals during the day. This can be a nice supplemental cleaning process, and can also maintain good breath and white teeth for your children. (MomRN’s note: Mouthwash should be used under parental supervision and kept out of children’s reach when not in use.)

All of these tips can go a long way toward helping your children to have good dental techniques. Once you teach them the habits and techniques described above, they will be well equipped to practice them throughout their lives. As dental care is something that seems to sort of set in over time, it is very important to approach the subject early on, so that your children will always enjoy healthy teeth and mouths.

Disclosure: This guest post is brought to you by TopDentists.com. These tips and recommendations are of a general nature and not intended to replace your dentist, physician, or health care provider’s guidance and supervision.

Filed Under: children, family, health, parenting, Uncategorized Tagged With: children, dental health, dentists, kids, oral hygiene

RedRover app makes social planning easy and fun

July 19, 2011 By MomRN 2 Comments

Want an easier way to plan a get-together with your friends or a play date for your kids? Even if it is spur of the moment and you only want to invite certain people instead of broadcasting it out to your whole social network? Out in public with your kids and suddenly one has to use the bathroom and you have no idea where the closest one is? Or have an emergency and need help fast?

Is there an app for all that? Yes there is! And it’s free!

RedRover is the “missing link” for social networking among busy, active parents. With this app, which is available on both iTunes and Droid platforms, you can add the friends you want, create plans to meet (when, where, what time and for how long), send messages, share pictures and more. Using your location, RedRover can tell you where the closest businesses are, which ones have clean public bathrooms, which are kid friendly, and even the closest emergency facilities. It also has a direct link to call 911, poison control, and allows you to send a text message to anyone you set as an emergency contact which tells them you are in an emergency situation (you can add details if you want) and gives a link to a map with your location.

(One thing I did notice was not all locations on the list of nearby businesses were completely accurate when it came to distance from my location. The addresses are correct but some of them showed an inaccurate distance and some were off by a few miles. I checked the emergency list of medical facilities nearby and those all seemed to be accurate. So just a heads up to double check the distance if you are planning to go to a new place that you found on the app.)

So many times I’ve seen posts on social networking sites with plans to meet up with friends. The problem with it being so public is that everyone on your network can see those details and know when you are not going to be at home. It only takes one dishonest person or thief to find out your address and burglarize your home to ruin that fun get-together. With RedRover, only people you specifically select will get any information you choose to share with them so it can be a safer, more selective way to make plans. Of course, if you DO want to share with your social networks, the app also has Facebook and Twitter integration and you can share your pictures on those sites using the RedRover app. I connected the app with my Twitter account (@MomRN) and sent a picture of my youngest kid and our dog and it tweeted it out to my followers and gave a link so they could view the picture on my RedRover profile page.

Here’s a video about RedRover that shows more about what it can do:

Here’s a test plan I made using the app to give you an idea of how it looks:

My 5 favorite places to use RedRover would be at home to message friends and make plans to meet up later, at the coffee shop, shopping mall, ice cream or frozen yogurt shop, book store, and park, but really it can be used anywhere, especially with the brilliant “clean bathroom” locator to help find one when your kids (or you) really need to go, while you are on the go! Where do you think RedRover could help you?

This week on the Ask MomRN Show, Kathryn Tucker, the CEO and Founder of RedRover, explained the inspiration behind the creation of the app, the features and uses of the app, and ways to use the app whether you have young kids, older kids or teenagers, or no kids. To listen to the interview, just click here.

Best of all, RedRover is donating up to $20K to Christy Turlington’s charity, EveryMotherCounts.org, for all app downloads through July 28 so by downloading the app, you are not only getting all the features for free, you are also helping out a great cause!

(Disclosure: I was asked to review the RedRover app and will be receiving a gift card to help plan some fun for my family using the app but all opinions and thoughts are my own and not influenced in any way, regardless of compensation.)

Filed Under: family, parenting Tagged With: app, Droid, Facebook, iTunes, kids, playdates, Red Rover, safety, social networking, Twitter

Zhip it up! Your phone, that is!

July 5, 2011 By MomRN Leave a Comment

Do you ever wish you had a third hand to hold your smartphone or iPod Touch while you are busy driving, cooking, surfing the net, or doing almost anything else? Well, the creators of Zhip have a solution for you.

What is a Zhip? According to the Zhip website, it is a “hands free retractable zip cord & stand” that holds iPhones, Androids, iPod Touches, and any other kind of smartphone. The built-in desk stand holds your phone while you are busy surfing the net on your computer or if you want hands-free viewing of videos or movies. The 3 foot “no drop” retractable cord lets you securely attach your phone almost anywhere you want for even more hands-free options.

One of the most common uses for the Zhip is using it to attach a smartphone to the back of a car seat so passengers can watch movies or videos hands free. This is a great option for anyone who lets their kids watch movies on their smartphone but doesn’t want the risk of it being dropped, thrown, or otherwise damaged by a young child. Zhip is also useful for attaching your smartphone to a treadmill or exercise bike or other piece of exercise equipment so you can watch videos or movies or listen to music while you work out. Have recipes on your smartphone? Use the Zhip to hang your phone from a cabinet doorknob so you can see the recipe while you cook, without worrying about it being on the counter and possibly getting wet or splattered with food. Have GPS directions on your phone but want to keep both hands safely on the wheel? Zhip could hold your phone for you.

I was sent a Zhip to review so on a recent road trip I let my teenage son try it out. He used it to hold his iPod Touch to the back of the driver’s seat of our car so he could watch videos. He liked that the Zhip held the device securely so he didn’t have to hold it while watching. I’ve used it as a desk stand to hold my iPhone and it keeps my phone handy and standing up at an angle so it is easier to see who is calling than when the phone is flat on my desk. The clip seems very strong and I like that it has padding so it doesn’t scratch my phone’s case or screen.

Overall I think the Zhip is a versatile option for hands free use of your smartphone or iPod Touch. The construction and materials used seem to be high quality and not easily breakable so it should be durable enough to withstand a lot of use and hold up to rough handling by little kids (and big ones too). The price ($14.95) is reasonable, especially when compared to other hands free mobile device holders. It is a product I would recommend to almost anyone but especially to parents who let their kids use their smartphone to play videos or games. I’ve known several moms who have regretted letting their child play with their smartphone. Maybe if they’d had a Zhip, it would have kept the kids from dropping or throwing the phone and saved my friends a lot of money and hassle replacing broken phones.

Disclosure: I was sent a Zhip to review. The review above is my own honest and true experience and opinion, as are all reviews on MomRN.com and the Ask MomRN Show. No compensation was received.