It isn’t often that you hear politics discussed by moms on the playground. That could be because we find ourselves too pressed for time to pay attention or because we are wary of engaging in serious debate without having done the proper research.

Now that may be on over-generalization, however, Molly Teichman is on a mission to bring politics to moms. Recognizing our value in the home, and as leaders in our families she wants mothers to be educated about politics, to have a forum to express their opinions without fear of ridicule and she wants them to be comfortable asking questions if there is something they don’t know or don’t understand.

This mother of three beautiful children created Political Mommentary - a site dedicated to factual political discussion free of “name calling, one liners or other divisive behavior”. Molly recognizes people won’t always agree; in fact, she embraces the idea. She is hoping to encourage bipartisan discussion.

She explains, “With a furrowed brow I find myself misunderstood and disappointed at the incredibly divided political landscape. Often not in line with my Republican party, nor feeling understanding from a more liberal crowd, I felt it was necessary to begin a new path toward bipartisan debate and understanding.”

And thus, Political Mommentary was born. With information presented from both sides of the political spectrum - and everywhere in between, Molly has created a political haven for moms to learn, understand and question the world around them.

Engage. Ask. Discuss. Debate.

Offer commentary.

Learn more about Molly and Political Mommentary Wednesday, August 14th on Why Moms Matter on Blog Talk Radio at 12:30PST/2:30CST. We will be happy to take your questions!

Post by Danielle Smith from ExtraordinaryMommy.com

The Why Moms Matter Project

The WhyMomsMatter Project was created by the founders of MomFaves to celebrate and honor the significance and beauty of motherhood. Moms are nominated by their loved ones to receive the “Why Moms Matter Award” by clicking “Nominate” at the top left of WhyMomsMatter.com. If you would like to nominate someone for the WhyMomsMatter project, we would love to hear from you!

Download the Why Moms Matter E-book - full of stories and pictures of moms nominated by their loved ones for the positive impact they are making in the world.

Show us Why Moms Matter…

Josh's mom just before she died from cancer with her first grandbaby.

Message From MomFaves Founder

My mom passed away from cancer 4 yrs ago and it’s the little things I miss most about her …birthday cards, phone calls, laughing together, not seeing her to play with her grandchildren, her hands and other ordinary reminders of her strong presence in my life. I’m sure most of you moms who love photography have favorite memories of the little things your mom did for you when we were growing up, or maybe you are a mom who matters yourself.

MomFaves is going to showcase the unique little things moms do that make a difference in our lives–which will be conveyed through your photos and a brief description.

We want you to submit photographs of these little moments you think define WHYMOMSMATTER to be used in both a promotional video for the MomFaves ~ WhyMomsMatter Project as well as the accompanying E-Book highlighting dozens of nominations of the most ordinary, extraordinary moms out there.

This EBook will be given away for free near Mother’s Day– because we think moms deserve all the credit in the world.

The crew from www.momfaves.com and www.extraordinarymommy.com will be deciding on the winning photographs. All photos selected will credit you for your work. Good luck and thank you for helping us to prove Moms Matter.

Josh Unfried
Founder
MomFaves

Click to Join MomFaves Flickr Group and Submit Your Photos

Sugar Jones

SugarJones.tv

What moms are doing on MomFaves is important according to Sugar…

When I had my first baby, I was inundated with well meaning aunties and friends that wanted to tell me what to do. One said have the baby sleep on her tummy in case she spits up at night, but pediatricians recommend babies sleep on their backs. For colic, Grandma told me to rub warm olive oil on the baby’s belly. Turns out, it wasn’t colic. I just didn’t know how to keep my new baby on a feeding schedule. So many people telling me what to do, and not much of it was really helping me out.

As the kids grew, I had to find things out by trial and error. I was usually too embarrassed to admit that I didn’t know what I was doing. I always say that my two older kids trained me to be a better mommy to the two younger kids. I really wish (and I’m sure the older kids do, too) that I had some kind of centralized resource where I could get my simple questions answered without worrying that I would be bothering anyone, or worse, be judged for not being a better mom.

Fast forward to 2009…

MomFaves is a great place to get tips and tricks from other moms that have been there, done that. Josh’s tribute to his mother is not only a testament to who she was as a woman and how her life touched her children, her legacy is now helping other moms who have more questions than answers. I love that moms can come to MomFaves and find Mother Approved tips, recipes, deals, entertainment… Yay!! I love that there are recommended places in multiple cities. We plan on going on some road trips this summer. Along with my maps and AAA, I’ll be leaning on many of the moms tips for activities, events, and services in the cities we visit.

I’m so thankful to the many women that have put all of their great tips and tricks on here. It’s good to know, with MomFaves, we don’t have to know it all… we all can lift each other up by sharing our part with other moms. I can’t wait to share MomFaves with more and more moms!!

Thanks to Josh and Rebecca for this labor of love!!

About Sugar

Sugar Jones has been a mom for nearly 21 years. Her kids are in Pre-K, Elementary, High School and College. This summer, she and her pilot husband will celebrate their nine year anniversary. When Sugar isn’t chasing down sunsets with her kids, she enjoys hiking, biking, photography, and of course writing. Sugar enjoys tearing down the myth of the Perfect Mom. She much prefers to celebrate and interview moms for who they are. You can find those interviews as well as her other random ramblings at SugarJones.tv

How Sugar is helping MomFaves

Sugar continues to go above and beyond to bring attention to what moms are doing on MomFaves. She was one of the first to bring attention to MomFaves by interviewing Josh on The Classy Closet Blog Radio Show. She helped spread the “MomFaves love” by passing out MomFaves cards and marshmallows at Blissdom09. To cap it all off, last week she and Jen Hinton (@KeepitClassyJen) did another blog radio show highlighting the WhyMomsMatter project with Danielle Smith from ExtraordinaryMommy.com

Thank you so much Sugar ~ MomFaves is better because of you!

~ MomFaves Challenge

Every Thursday on this blog, MomFaves features a new mom who goes above and beyond to bring attention to what moms are doing on MomFaves.com. These are active members and supporters of the MomFaves community who are helping establish a universal brand for moms behind the things they love most, a modern mother’s seal of approval. This is our way of telling these moms “Thank-You.”

THANK YOU to all other moms found helping MomFaves!

Danielle Smith from ExtraordinaryMommy.com posted about the WhyMomsMatter Project

CoolBabyKid.com added MomFaves as her new favorite site on the New Blog Popz post (these things are so cool!)

RuffleButts Blog posted about MomFaves and their mom fan @TheGoToMom from TheGoToMom.tv

Deanna (@DomesticChicky) from Domestic-Chicky.com posted the Why Moms Matter Project from a very unique and life-giving perspective..Thank YOU!

Our good friend Christine (@YoungMommy) from FromDatestoDiapers.com wrote a great post about Why Moms Matter.

Nichole Smith (The one and only @Nikki_S) from TheGuiltyParent.com guest posted the WhyMomsMatter project on Zoesheart.com (an amazing blog from an amazing mother with an amazing child)

Shelley Ann posted MomFaves on the official blog of PatriciaAnnDesigns (Thank you Shelley!)

Erin from MomsTalkNetwork Resource Blog posted WhyMomsMatterProject

The infamous SecretAgentMama from SecretAgentMama.com posted the WhyMomsMatter Project (Thank you Michelle!)

Christine Young (@YoungMommy)

FromDatesToDiapers.com

How MomFaves is helping me…

I was the first of my friends to have kids, over eight years ago now. I can remember countless times I needed another mom’s opinion, on a product or service, and it just wasn’t to be found. Sure, I was able to call my own mom, to ask her opinion, but imagine how much things change after 20-some years! Now, with the help of MomFaves, I can rely on the invaluable opinions of other Moms. MomFaves not only saves me time, but it helps make my job so much easier. I know I can trust the opinions of other moms when looking for the perfect highchair, a great website, or a fun place to take the kiddos. I believe that every mom, new and seasoned, can benefit greatly from MomFaves, just as I have!

About Christine

Christine is married to her best friend, Ray, and together they have six very active children. She’s a busy mama, spending most of her days homeschooling her oldest four, while running after her youngest two. She is the proud owner and author of From Dates to Diapers, where she shares about life with little ones, offers advice and encouragement, and writes her thoughts and opinions on some of the greatest products on the market.

In addition to being a mom, wife, laundry-hater, dish-washer, and boogie-wiper, Christine is a Mom Expert at Wishpot.com, is one of Wal-Mart’s “Eleven Moms,” is an ambassador for Graco Nation, is a Spokesmom for Johnson’s Baby, and she writes for a variety of companies and sites.

You can find Christine as YoungMommy on Twitter, in various other online social communities, and speaking at conferences around the country.

MomFaves Monday

The theme of MomFaves Monday is “Let’s Share!”. It’s a day each week moms remember to share their newest favorite things on MomFaves and also on their blogs or websites (if they happen to have one).

MomFaves “Spirit Award”

MomFaves selects and features a new mom (normally one who blogs) each Monday on WhyMomsMatter who embraces the spirit of MomFaves - which is someone who “shares what she loves to help the people she loves.” They are active members and supporters of MomFaves and are helping us reveal what moms love most by sharing what they love most (on MomFaves and also elsewhere on other sites).  This is our way of telling them “Thank You!”

3 Ways MomFaves Empowers Moms Who Blog…

1. Tools - To share what you love!

Create Dynamic MomFaves Widgets

Create custom MomFaves widgets by clicking “Create Widget” for any MomFaves Recommendation RSS Feed on the site.

Feeds! Any way you want them…

Global Site Feeds:
~ Pulls mom recommendations from entire MomFaves community
~ Popular/New/Recently Faved! of all topics
~ Ex: Most Popular recommendations on MomFaves

Individual Mom and Group Feeds:
~ Pulls mom recommendations from specific moms or groups of moms
~ Popular/New/Recently Faved! of any mom or group
~ Ex: Your new recommendations on MomFaves

Category/Sub-Category Feeds:
~ Pulls mom recommendations from a specific MomFave category and/or sub-category (i.e. Recipes - Dinners)
~ Popular/New/Recently Faved! of any category and/or subcategory on MomFaves
~ Ex: Popular dinner recipe recommendations

Location Feeds:
~ Pulls mom recommendations from a specific zip code or zip code radius (ie. 20 miles from 95747)
~ Popular/New/Recently Faved!
~ Ex: Popular parks or restaurants in the 08219 zip code

Hyper Targeted Feeds:
~ Pulls mom recommendations from any combination of individual mom or group, category or subcategory, and location or radius
~ Popular/New/Recently Faved!
~ Ex: New local service provider recommendations from a Group of moms who live in a specific zip-code radius.

Promote-It! Image Links

You can also promote the things you find on MomFaves.com on other sites via the “Promote-it” tab. The tab exists on any recommendation you see on MomFaves. Simply click the recommendation, find the “Promote-it” tab - then copy/paste the code into your post where you discuss a favorite local restaurant or a great new website.

Also, don’t forget to use the “Promote-it” feature to increase the exposure of your own website or blog. Once the site is submitted, site-owners can promote mom-word of-mouth by sharing their “Vote for this Website!” link with readers and fans to have them to vote.  As number of votes increase, your exposure to the MomFaves community also increases.

2. Content - You can depend on!

Need a quick idea for a post?  Want to be sure you are featuring something that you know other moms love? Do you blog for a local newspaper and are looking for things that moms in your area say they love?

Every mom who blogs relies on her own great content and also on finding great content from other sources she can trust. MomFaves is a reliable and trustworthy source for fresh content and…it’s at your fingertips any time of the day or night you might need it.

3. Brand - You can trust!

You are changing the world or at least making it a whole heck of lot better, right?

Your goal may be to drive value to your readers one post a time. MomFaves empowers every mom to drive value to her friends, the MomFaves community and to the world - one recommendation at time.

MomFaves is a brand you can trust, because it’s one that’s being created and popularized by moms themselves. It represents a modern mother’s seal of approval behind the things she love’s most. Instead of taking 3 hours for a mom to conduct Internet research related to purchasing a car seat for her first child, we’re making it possible for her make that decision within seconds…and with the confidence that only comes from the trusted support of her mom peers.

Enjoy!

The MomFaves Team