I WON!

Welp. The Circle of Moms Top 25 Canadian Mom blog contest thingie has ended and I lost.

Or did I...?

I don't usually jump into those voting contests, but I wanted to reach out to Canadian bloggers. Because I'm Canadian. (Sorry!).

I was hoping that I was unique enough, with the whole animation thing, that I could stand a chance of making it into the Top 25 and maybe gain some recognition. But these vote-every-day contests are prolly not a measure of distinction, nor are they a measure of popularity. They reflect one's ability to rally the troops to click that little pink heart every single day.

And that's just not me. Cuz you know that I would rather be drawing than vote-slutting.

However, I did discover a couple of homegrown blogs that I really liked: Colleen Anthony's Curtains are Open, and "t" McCallan's Happy Soul Project. And I reconnected with my friend Tanya Toledano from the MontrealMom.com blog.

But my big win here is that I have YOU. Every single one of your votes was the richest, sweetest cream of the crop. My tribe may be small, but it's a quality tribe.

This little pink heart is for you...because I love you.

Thank-you for letting me be annoying, spam your groups, bump the Facebook convo's and basically twerk the Internet badly.

And now, it's back to the old drawing board.

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A bunch of parenting TIPS.

I'm nominated for a Top 25 Canadian Moms blogging thing.

I don't usually get involved in contests and giveaways. Especially not the kind where you have to annoy people by asking them to vote for you repeatedly. But, alas, here I find myself doing just that.

But I don't like pestering people day after day for votes, which in the end prolly do more to boost the rankings of the host site anyways. Bleah. I much prefer the idea of offering you something of value as I ask for your precious *click*.

And so, in the spirit of exchange: I'll be leaving a bunch of parenting tips, mined from my personal experience (stuff that worked for me anyways), here on this blogpost from now until September 25th.

In return: puh-leeze consider voting for me every day until then. Just click on the little heart next to the word VOTE.

NO, you don't have to be in Canada to vote. You can be anywhere. And you can vote every day.

So here's the parenting tips:

1. Listen to the kids. Hear what they are saying to me not only with words, but also with their silence. A lack of communication can be as telling as a hand-written letter tattooed on the eyeballs. Never let them shut you out for long.

2. Respect the kids. Treat them as you would have them treat you. You know how you've nagged at them a million times to say "please", to lower their voice, and to speak with a civil tongue, even if they disagree? When they insist on the same respectful treatment in return, you'll know you're doing a good job.

3. Cop to it. If you make a mistake (and you will) you should always own up to it. Apologize, and explain why you did it. When a parent screws up, it's important to show that you're trying to do better. But you also want to move forward, so don't forget to forgive yourself too.

4. Be Consistent. Whether it's rules, or family routine, decide what it's gonna be and stick with it. Kids need that familiarity, it helps them feel secure - even teenagers, though they protest and complain. This doesn't mean that you can't surprize them once in a while by changing your mind (it keeps them on their toes!) but this should be rare.

This is fun right? More in a day or so. Please go votez for moi!

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