Do MOST parents have a favorite child?

        Believe it or not,  MOST seems they do. And there has been a study that found out the consequences of what they call “differential parenting”.

       The new study is from the Journal of Child Development, where Jenny Jenkins, the lead author of the study and professor in the department of Applied Psychology and Human Development at the University of Toronto said, "We expected differential parenting to operate stronger within the parent-child dynamic. However, differential parenting had a stronger effect on the entire family."

      The differential parenting is something I have fought all my life. I have childhood memories of my grandmother having favoritism between her children and doing the same with her grandchildren. 

       As it says in the study, it does not only affect the parent-child relationship but that of the whole family. And how it can not if one child is given more love than the other, that other child will feel left out and will hurt the child's overall emotional evaluation of his or her own worth as well as their relation with that other “ favorite” child.

Please read more of the consequences of giving one of your children more love in http://www.srcd.org.

Please do give love to all in your home!!

SVS

Curious news!

          Now it is going to seem to you that I read a lot of articles about women in politics, but come to think of it could not be far from the truth.

            It just happens to be that the articles in the media have been so interesting lately that you can’t but read them.

          For example, to read in the news that some people are asking themselves if the USA is ready for a white male Secretary of State is just too hilarious. If you look at my last article and you are now reading this one you would think that women are everywhere in the leadership arena. Definitely, we are in many places today, and God do we want to be in more! But let's take it to step by step and hope the increase of our presence in positions of leadership is done gradually and correctly and that our women leaders show their best capacity to be in those jobs.

           There is no question in my mind that I want them all to be &Mother, but being sisters, daughters, and/or wives is just as good.  And I know that &Mother group is rising up and increasing in all top positions worldwide, so it is ok if we leave some jobs for the rest.

         By the way, let me take some time to congratulate our new &Mother Shakira. May you always be able to balance your life as a mother and your life as a hard-working singer as well as keeping the work to the most needed.

Until next curious news!!

SVS

A U.S. State under the power of &MOTHERS

In New Hampshire something is happening and something that looks beautiful and for us, &mother, makes us proud. The top 5 leaders of the State are women and not only women but &mothers.

The Governor, The state’s two senators and the states new representatives are all Women, and are all mothers and wives. This is the best example for our new generation of young girls to look up to and to see how it is possible to have it all!!

If that was not enough, their female Governor was sworn in by a female Chief of justice of the State Supreme Court in a ceremony presided by their female State House Speaker. It is just a picture perfect at least for a while, it is nice to see that it is possible, not that I want it to be for good, now remember I have three boys.

Governor Hassan says that “there is a camaraderie that comes from shared experiences, and I think the fact that all of us are mothers, as well as public servants as well as wives and sisters and daughters, certainly is something that binds us together” (cbsnews.com)

Also Rep Ann McLane Kuster repeats what a lot of us think that

" if you can raise toddlers and teenagers then you know how to get to yes, you know how to bring people to the table. And right now in Congress, that's what voters are looking for Congress to do." (cbsnews.com)

So voters go out and vote for more &mothers. But don’t worry &fathers, just let us enjoy it now for a while!!

SVS

Believe in YOURSELF

Every now and then we need a little help to put us on the right track. We may be down for so many reasons now, so for this week and for you to keep at all times here you have the quote of the week:

BELIEVE IN YOURSELF

Come on, do it, just DO IT!!!

And here you have it from some people that may know more than I do:

“ Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.”

Norman Vincent Peale

“Believe in love. Believe in magic. Hell, believe in Santa Clause. Believe in others. Believe in yourself. Believe in your dreams. If you don't, who will? “

Jon Bon Jovi

“Whatever you want in life, other people are going to want it too. Believe in yourself enough to accept the idea that you have an equal right to it”

Diane Sawyer

“You know, you do need mentors, but in the end, you really just need to believe in yourself. “

Diana Ross

“Believe it can be done. When you believe something can be done, really believe, your mind will find the ways to do it. Believing a solution paves the way to solution.”

 David J. Schwartz, Magic Of Thinking Big

“If you can’t believe in miracles, then believe in yourself. When you want something bad enough, let that drive push you to make it happen. Sometimes you’ll run into brick walls that are put there to test you. Find a way around them and stay focused on your dream. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

Isabel Lopez, Isabel's Hand-Me-Down Dreams

“Man is what he believes – believe in yourself”

 Amit Abraham, Personality Development Through Positive Thinking

Do &mother ask for help?

I have always been impressed by the achievements of my mother in-law. She has grown to be a strong and amazing &mother.

Since she was young she had to take things into her own hands to help support her family and make sure her kids would receive a good education by going to the best schools. Even though she always had her husband next to her, what she wanted for her kids was far beyond what anybody thought she would accomplish. She did not listen to anyone and just took upon herself to give the most she could to her three children.

When she was around 50 she decided to get a job in the World Bank. Everyone around her thought it was an impossible dream, taking into account her age and education. But she knew she had the experience needed and fought her way to get her new job to secure for herself and her husband a health insurance and a fair retirement. The most important thing for her has always been not to burden her children with their medical future needs.

But through all this, the last thing she did was to ask for help. Until today I see her sacrifice towards her kids, now man and woman. She also still takes care of her very sick husband, all on her own.

My question is why we, &mothers, don’t know how to ask for help and rather always end up doing all ourselves.

In one of his articles Dr. Oz says ¨build your own team¨. In his work he relies on his staff who he says has amazing skills far beyond his (article on Woman´s day). In his own words, that this is exactly where he sees women trip, since THEY DON’T ASK FOR HELP.

Does that happen at work as well as in our personal lives? 

SVS

Do you think as a woman and mother, that your approach to business is different to that of a man?

I have been thinking for several days to write an article about woman and mother in business, more specially the perceptions that others have of us.

It all came to my mind when I was watching the international news and heard the speech of the South Korean first woman president elect. After the speech they had some views of her citizens about her election. And it was interesting to see how the majority mentioned that they were hopeful of her leadership since she was a mother  therefore she  would be able to lead differently. Women specially were hopeful that she would bring to the table new laws to help woman in the country present difficult future forecast of economic difficulties.

Then again few days later on the plane to spend my Christmas holidays with the family, I found a question in a magazine sent to a female editor asking if she thought that by being a woman her approach to business was different of that of a man. I happen to agree with the editor when she says that everybody’s approach to business is different and that business is not gender specific and that either you are good at it or not. Of course this is applied to politics, but do people see it that way as well or do they still judge business and political leaders on gender preferences?

Lost Child

When terrible things happen to children all around the world as has happened in the last few days, the world stops for a moment and makes us think how fragile life is.

When times like this happens all we want is for our kids to be safe wherever they are and at all times we pray that they would outlive us.

We pray for the soul of those gone and may God give all the family left behind of the children and the adults that have passed away, strength, peace and forgiveness to overcome such overwhelming pain.