Notice something different? If you arrived here directly from Circle of Moms today you probably saw our new look, which we just unveiled to a portion of our members. We hope that those of you who have seen it are as pleased as we are by the changes.
As with everything we do at Circle of Moms, the redesign of the site was undertaken in partnership with our members. Continue reading ‘Circle of Moms Gets a Makeover’
Part II in a series exploring gender differences in child development. This week: ages 1-7
Last week we compared the developmental milestones of baby girls and boys, and concluded that among babies, popular sentiment (boys lag behind girls) holds little truth. This news was received with disbelief by many of the moms who read about it on our Facebook fan page. So it’s interesting to see that when we look beyond babyhood, there is clear evidence to back up their incredulity: according to our data, girls do indeed take the lead — between the ages of 1 and 7.
Here’s the story: Continue reading ‘Part II. Do Little Girls Mature Faster than Little Boys? Our Answer: Yes’
Here’s a jaw-dropping stat: if your U.S.-born children, nieces, nephews or grandchildren under the age of five came into the world on a weekday, they were almost as likely to have been born via C section as to have had a normal (vaginal) birth. And most children (81%) born in the U.S. in the last five years were born on a weekday.
A look at our data on U.S. births since 2005 sheds additional light on a recent New York Times article in which reporter Denise Grady flagged the increase in the U.S. rate of C sections (as high as 32% of all births in 2007). By tracing the relationship between the timing of a baby’s birth–specifically the day of the week–and the method of delivery, we offer some additional insights into this trend and its drivers. Continue reading ‘Caesarean Births Rule the Day’
Ronald Reagan left office in 1989. John Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.
Still, conservatives maintain a strong place in their heart for President Reagan; liberals a strong admiration for President Kennedy (as well as his political family).
How do we know this? Using Circle of Moms Child Space data, of course. We looked at the names parents give to their children. Notably, Reagan (usually a girl’s name), is the most conservative among the top 250 names Circle of Moms’ mothers have given to their kids: 89% of mothers of children named Reagan identify themselves as conservative or Republican.
On the other side of the coin, Kennedy — also usually a girl’s name — stands as the #11 most liberal name, with 67% of “moms of Kennedy” identifying themselves as liberal or Democratic. Continue reading ‘From Reagan to Kennedy: Liberal and Conservative Baby Names’
Everyone knows that children develop at different rates. Some children start talking young, but are late bloomers when it comes to walking. Others potty train at an early age, but don’t read until much later. Lots of things factor into this. Looking through our rich data set, we found something surprising: there are strong regional differences in child development.
Every day, many thousands of parents in the U.S. use Circle of Moms’ Child Space to share their children’s milestones with friends and family. And since Child Space has been widely adopted (more than 10% of the children born in the US in the past three years have a Child Space on Circle of Moms) we can pull some significant inferences from the data all this activity generates.
Northeast babies get chewing early; West Coasters stay on the liquid diet as long as they can Continue reading ‘Late Bloomer? Early Bloomer? It May Depend on Where You Live’
If you take a walk on a Saturday morning through San Francisco’s quiet, family-friendly Noe Valley neighborhood where I live, the first thing you’ll notice is the strollers. American stereotypes of San Francisco generally involve some combination of hippies, hipsters, and gay bars, but Noe Valley is all about the babies. Walk along 24th Street past the relaxed restaurants serving brunch, the trendy (in a yuppie kind of way) furniture sellers, the coffee shops, and of course the baby stores — and you’ll see the high school classes of 2026, 2027, and 2028 represented in full force.
As I took it in one day, I couldn’t help wonder about the demographics of it all. Why do I see so many babies in Noe Valley, but so few school-age children and teenagers?
Fortunately, Circle of Moms is an incredibly rich web site and can aid in answering questions like these. Continue reading ‘Where Have All The (Big) Children Gone?’
The “Moms’ Eye View” series highlights timely parenting themes and issues that emerge from the Circle of Moms community. The topics and questions that fascinate moms the most are the fodder for this space; for each Moms’ Eye post, we select one particularly lively thread and attempt to capture the consensus (or lack of consensus) that percolates through the thread.
Even before the idea of the “mommy wars” took hold in the public imagination, spawning a small universe of books, studies, and commentators, mothers have weighed the personal and financial trade-offs of working outside the home in an environment charged with public approbation. When mothers come together to discuss this subject, the results often reflect the public acrimony. But in a recent thread in one of Circle of Moms’ largest communities for working moms, almost 400 mothers from all walks of life weighed in on the topic of guilt among working mothers—without slinging arrows. What accounts for the peace? Continue reading ‘Mommy Wars: Is guilt a thing of the past for working moms?’
Moms trend towards the idea that vaccinations are optional
The “Moms’ Eye View” series highlights timely parenting themes and issues that emerge from the Circle of Moms community. The topics and questions that fascinate moms the most are the fodder for this space; for each Moms’ Eye post, we select one particularly lively thread and attempt to capture the consensus (or lack of consensus) that percolates through the thread.
Immunizations are a consistently hot topic in our most popular and diverse community on Circle of Moms, and a consensus–that they are a matter of personal choice rather than public health–seems to be emerging in these conversations. Continue reading ‘To Vaccinate, or Not to Vaccinate?’
The “Moms’ Eye View” series highlights timely parenting themes and issues that emerge from the Circle of Moms community. The topics and questions that fascinate moms the most are the fodder for this space; for each Moms’ Eye post, we select one particularly lively thread and attempt to capture the consensus (or lack of consensus) that percolates through the thread.
What is child abuse? There are many different ways of looking at it: are swats on the bottom considered abuse? How about spanking? Yelling? Name calling? And where do the moms of Circle of Moms – some 8 million strong – draw the line?
Almost a hundred responded to a recent thread posted in one of Circle of Moms’ largest and most diverse communities asking for a definition of child abuse. The vast majority agreed that spanking seems to lie in a grey area between abuse and punishment. Here’s what they said: Continue reading ‘Spanking: Punishment or Abuse?’
