Moms Talk: Halloween Candy For The Kids - Patch.com

Our Moms Council discusses their children's favorite and least favorite Halloween candy, as well as rules for eating it after trick-or-treating.

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Each week our Moms Council discusses a different parenting issue. Join the conversation by weighing in on a topic, or ask our panel of experts your question.

We put this week's question to our North Potomac-Darnestown Patch Moms Council for their ideas and advice. The suggestions don’t end here. Add your own tips and advice in the comments section below.

This week's second question: What are your kids' favorite halloween candies and what do they avoid at all costs? After trick-or-treating, do they get a free-for-all on the candy or do you decide how much they can have and when?

Sharina Hunt: My kids in general like most candy. I can't say there is a favorite. I do know they don't really like the Dots, Good and Plenty, and Jujubes. On Halloween I let them eat quite a bit of candy and then the next day or two they usually sort their candy and "play" with it while enjoying a piece or two each day. Then mom takes over. I take out all the really chewy, gooey pieces that are worse on the teeth (Laffy Taffy, Now and Laters, etc.)  Then I usually take some of the candy bars that can freeze and stick them in the back of the freezer for the holiday baking. Then the bucket sits there and they will enjoy a piece or two every few days until they forget about it and then it usually gets thrown away. I have been limiting the desserts more lately because all I was hearing throughout dinner was, "Can I have dessert now?" way too much and I decided dessert was for weekends only. For the most part that solved the problem and the dinner hour has been much more pleasant. We will see how it goes after Halloween and there is more treats in the house.

Garine Isassi: Halloween candy around here is a family battle. My husband thinks all candy is evil and would not allow the kids to have any of it if it was up to him. I, on the other hand, believe that this is one night a year that they should be allowed to eat until they were sick. So we've met in the middle. They get to choose only 15 pieces of candy to keep and the rest goes to "charity" in the form of a bowl at the office or turned in to the dentist. For me, it kind of takes the fun out of it, though. 

The only issues I have is that there are several hundred dollars worth of dental work in the mouths of my kids right now. One pack of skittles or a bunch of tootsie rolls and we are in trouble.

Renee Enright: My kids used to like only fruity, gooey candy and they would put all the chocolate in a big pile “for Daddy." Those were the days, because Daddy was nice enough to share with Mommy – LOL! Now, however, they’ve wizened to the goodness of chocolate so they really like it all. We’ve never really had an issue with our kids eating too much, however. Hence the candy from last year still in the pantry! They generally choose one piece per day after dinner, if they eat a full dinner. At Halloween time, we do allow a little more consumption for a few days, but then the novelty wears off and we go back to one or two pieces per day. We plan to donate a good amount to the dentist in exchange for $$ this year.

Heather Kerr: My kids' favorite Halloween treat is gum and/or gummy candy. They tend to leave the no-name foil wrapped and Mounds/Almond Joy chocolates alone. We let them have several pieces after trick-or-treat and then a few each day after. They usually don't ask for more, however my youngest has a major sweet tooth and may have strong opinions this year! We always have excessive amounts of candy left over. The big problem each year is figure out what to do with Halloween candy the week after Halloween. 

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All Moms Have Messy Houses And Other Survey Findings

Meghan Casserly, On Tuesday October 25, 2011, 2:43 pm EDT

[caption id="attachment_3711" align="alignright" width="300" caption="OMG, what must her kitchen look like!?"][/caption] As it turns out, working and stay-at-home moms have a lot more in common than we ever thought. In particular, they both feel they’re being judged for how clean their houses are. “We find that guilt and worry are universal conditions for moms,” says Working Mother Media President Carol Evans in a press release. “Working mothers carry a greater burden of guilt and feeling judged than their at-home counterparts, but the gap is surprisingly slender.” Here are the top three things that working and stay-at-home moms feel judged about:

Working mothers: How clean my house isNot taking care of myselfThe amount of time I spend with my childrenStay-at-home mothers: My contribution to family financesHow clean my house isNot using my education

Surprisingly, I’m not surprised. My only real experience with motherhood (besides extensive research for this site) is with my own mother and I’ve seen first-hand the clean house stress-out. As a child she was both a stay-at-home-mom (until my three siblings and I were all in school) and a working mom (an over-committed special education teacher). And in my cache of childhood memories, I can honestly say the times my mom looked the most stressed or dejected was when her mother-in-law (my beloved Nanny) would come over and immediately begin picking up around the house. Or worse, wiping down the always-covered-in-schoolwork countertop. Related Story: 2010 ForbesWoman and TheBump Parenting Survey Our grandparents came over for dinner on Sunday nights (prime homework time) and the call-to-arms to "move your backpacks from the front door!" or "everybody pick up ten things off the floor right now!" still feel familiar twenty years later. Lest you think I grew up in a pig sty, I can assure you I did not. I just think--and judging by these survey results, both at-home and working moms would agree that they've just got better things to do than clean baseboards. The What Moms Choose survey, cosponsored by Working Mother Media and Ernst & Young, also asked working moms for their wish-lists of work-life balance. They said

• They’d like to scale back during preschool years, but don’t want to drop out completely. In our survey, roughly half of all career-oriented moms say that working part-time before children are school-aged is desirable. • They’d like to work full-time again after children are school-aged. Nearly three-quarters of career-oriented moms rank this as desirable. • They want to be home at the end of the school day. When asked to define what makes a good mother, 63 percent say being there when the kids come home at the end of the day.

  More info on the 2011 What Moms Choose survey can be found in the November issue of Working Mother.

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MOMS Club offers support to moms and kids

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Community Connection > NewsMOMS Club offers support to moms and kidsPublished: Sunday, October 30, 2011

Tweet0 By Sue Erickson
Connection Editor
serickson@berksmontnews.com

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When Pattie Ann Bilyk moved to the Pottstown area, she felt more alone than she had in a long time.  Even with a growing family and a new son, Pattie, who moved to Pottstown from California, didn’t have extended family in the area or a network of friends she could count on.

“I was alone and unsure of what being a mom was all about,” said Pattie.

That’s when she found the MOMS Club of Pottsgrove/Pottstown.

The MOMS Club, an acronym for Moms Offering Moms Support, began in the mid 1980s when a group of new moms were looking for other new moms to share their experiences, find child-friendly things to do and support one another.

Pattie found the Pottsgrove/Pottstown chapter and went to an open meeting.

“It was such a relief,” said Pattie.  “I was welcomed with open arms and I knew that I had found an organization that was going to become a very important part of my life.”

Pattie has been a member of the MOMS Club since 2007 and has been a board member for the past four years.  She has been the president of the Pottsgrove/Pottstown chapter for the past two years.

“Our MOMS Club has almost 50 moms and more than 150 children,” said Pattie.  “We’re growing by leaps and bounds and always look forward to having new moms join our group.”

Specifically designed for stay-at-home moms, the MOMS Club offers weekly meetings, as well as activities, tours, theme-parties and play groups.  Each mother is asked to host a play group at her house; however, play groups are also scheduled at kid-friendly establishments, such as McDonald’s and Chuck E. Cheese, as well as playgrounds and parks.

“It’s also a way to teach children socialization skills,” said Pattie.  The children are around other kids their own age and learn life skills like sharing and interacting.” Continued...

1 2 3 See Full Story Reader Comments » View reader comments (0) » Comment on this story » “That’s the really nice thing about joining MOMS Club,” said Charity Tabor, MOMS Club secretary and a transplant from Florida.  “When I moved to the area, I had no idea where anything was.  I remember driving around with my son in the car, looking for a park or a playground.  I had no idea where to look or who to ask.”

“I just wanted to be able to have a place to take my son where he could meet kids his age and play, but where I could also have control over the situation by being able to be there with him,” she continued.

The MOMS Club of Pottsgrove/Pottstown is a non-profit organization and members are all volunteers.  From bringing snacks to helping with baby sitting needs, they band together to help one another as much as needed.  They also do charitable service projects to help fund activities for the club, including this year’s cookbook.

“Each mom submitted a recipe for the cookbook,” explained Pattie.  “We had the children put their hand prints on a piece of paper and that’s what we used for the cover of the cookbook.  Everyone got in on the design and content.”

In addition to fund raising activities and service projects, the moms are all about helping one another.  The MOMS Club has a MOMS Helping Hands group that offers to make and bring meals to families where the mother has recently given birth or has undergone surgery.

“It’s a huge relief not only on the mom, but on the dad, as well,” explained Pattie.  “It gives the parents one less thing that they have to worry about.”

“I was really nervous the first time I came to a MOMS Club meeting,” Charity laughed.  “I walked in alone but walked out knowing that I had made a wonderful decision and lots of wonderful friends.”

And for those new moms considering joining the MOMS Club, the members offer “big sisters” - members who will meet a new mom at a meeting or an event and introduce them around while explaining things to them.

The MOMS Club of Pottsgrove/Pottstown meets monthly, but activities and play groups are generally held on a weekly basis.  For more information on the MOMS Club of Pottsgrove/Pottstown or to find out where and when the next meeting is being held, visit the website at www.momsclubofpottsgrove.com.

“It’s just so comforting to know that you’re not in this alone,” said Pattie.  “We’re all in the same boat!” Continued...

1 2 3 See Full Story Reader Comments » View reader comments (0) » Comment on this story » Follow the Community Connection on Twitter @commconn

  1 2 3 See Full Story Reader Comments » View reader comments (0) » Comment on this story » 1 2 3 4 See Full Story Reader Comments » View reader comments (0) » Comment on this story » When Pattie Ann Bilyk moved to the Pottstown area, she felt more alone than she had in a long time.  Even with a growing family and a new son, Pattie, who moved to Pottstown from California, didn’t have extended family in the area or a network of friends she could count on.

“I was alone and unsure of what being a mom was all about,” said Pattie.

That’s when she found the MOMS Club of Pottsgrove/Pottstown.

The MOMS Club, an acronym for Moms Offering Moms Support, began in the mid 1980s when a group of new moms were looking for other new moms to share their experiences, find child-friendly things to do and support one another.

Pattie found the Pottsgrove/Pottstown chapter and went to an open meeting.

“It was such a relief,” said Pattie.  “I was welcomed with open arms and I knew that I had found an organization that was going to become a very important part of my life.”

Pattie has been a member of the MOMS Club since 2007 and has been a board member for the past four years.  She has been the president of the Pottsgrove/Pottstown chapter for the past two years.

“Our MOMS Club has almost 50 moms and more than 150 children,” said Pattie.  “We’re growing by leaps and bounds and always look forward to having new moms join our group.”

Specifically designed for stay-at-home moms, the MOMS Club offers weekly meetings, as well as activities, tours, theme-parties and play groups.  Each mother is asked to host a play group at her house; however, play groups are also scheduled at kid-friendly establishments, such as McDonald’s and Chuck E. Cheese, as well as playgrounds and parks.

“It’s also a way to teach children socialization skills,” said Pattie.  The children are around other kids their own age and learn life skills like sharing and interacting.”

“That’s the really nice thing about joining MOMS Club,” said Charity Tabor, MOMS Club secretary and a transplant from Florida.  “When I moved to the area, I had no idea where anything was.  I remember driving around with my son in the car, looking for a park or a playground.  I had no idea where to look or who to ask.”

“I just wanted to be able to have a place to take my son where he could meet kids his age and play, but where I could also have control over the situation by being able to be there with him,” she continued.

The MOMS Club of Pottsgrove/Pottstown is a non-profit organization and members are all volunteers.  From bringing snacks to helping with baby sitting needs, they band together to help one another as much as needed.  They also do charitable service projects to help fund activities for the club, including this year’s cookbook.

“Each mom submitted a recipe for the cookbook,” explained Pattie.  “We had the children put their hand prints on a piece of paper and that’s what we used for the cover of the cookbook.  Everyone got in on the design and content.”

In addition to fund raising activities and service projects, the moms are all about helping one another.  The MOMS Club has a MOMS Helping Hands group that offers to make and bring meals to families where the mother has recently given birth or has undergone surgery.

“It’s a huge relief not only on the mom, but on the dad, as well,” explained Pattie.  “It gives the parents one less thing that they have to worry about.”

“I was really nervous the first time I came to a MOMS Club meeting,” Charity laughed.  “I walked in alone but walked out knowing that I had made a wonderful decision and lots of wonderful friends.”

And for those new moms considering joining the MOMS Club, the members offer “big sisters” - members who will meet a new mom at a meeting or an event and introduce them around while explaining things to them.

The MOMS Club of Pottsgrove/Pottstown meets monthly, but activities and play groups are generally held on a weekly basis.  For more information on the MOMS Club of Pottsgrove/Pottstown or to find out where and when the next meeting is being held, visit the website at www.momsclubofpottsgrove.com.

“It’s just so comforting to know that you’re not in this alone,” said Pattie.  “We’re all in the same boat!”

Follow the Community Connection on Twitter @commconn

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National News VideosReal Men Rednecks WTIM: Music Around Town check out "Morrison" by our friends DagnyThe Turning Leaf Fall Festival rocks BoyertownLatest HeadlinesThe Boyertown Area Times Vandalism and arson at Oley Valley High SchoolThe Hamburg Area ItemKing Frost Parade Postponed2011 King Frost Parade chairperson's letterThe Kutztown Area PatriotUpdate from PPL regarding the restoration effortPPL Electric Utilities crews battling Halloween snowstorm
to restore power to more than 214,000 customersThe Southern Berks News Amity Township considers staff cutsCommunity comes together in Douglassville for BrookeTri County Record Ask Doctor Crankshaft: Why is gas still priced so high?Municipal Report: Vandalism is concern at Honey Brook’s Umble ParkThe Community ConnectionCelebrate Octoberfest with Lower Pottsgrove Historical SocietyMOMS Club offers support to moms and kidsAP News HeadlinesView all AP National Headlines

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Apples and Cheese, Please

Details the true-life stories of a Philadelphia suburb-based food fiend who lives to chomp up-and-down the East Coast.

Reconnected

Columnist Nancy Kauffman views Berks County and Planet Earth from a different perspective. Travelers and discussions are welcomed.

Ellen's Celiac Information

About Celiac Disease, products, info and links to other informational sites.

PEAK blog

Pottstown's community-wide school readiness initiative, PEAK, presents families and teachers of young children with ideas to prepare children for school.

Founding a Father

Jimmy is the father of two girls, one dog, one cat, and, according to his 8 year old, our two fish as well. He plays dad, husband, chaeuffer, soccer coach, beauty shop client, drawing partner, ghost buster, and his family's biggest cheerleader.

French Creek Boutique

News from the boutique with beautiful clothing and new jewelry for you to check out.

Kids and Cabbages

Carol is a mom of four kids (ages 1-9) trying to keep her sanity while slowly transforming 0.15 acres into an urban homestead. Kids and cabbages - neither grow overnight!

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Dads, moms, wives, girlfriends bury Basilan soldiers

MANILA, Philippines - The family and friends of the soldiers who died in Al-Barka, Basilan more than a week ago continue to call for justice for their brutal deaths.

Private First Class Ervin Dequito, one of the 19 soldiers killed by forces of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, was laid to rest at 12 o'clock noon Sunday in their farm in Central Dinganen, in the town of Buldon, Maguindanao.

His family, relatives and friends continue to mourn his death.  His colleagues from the 8th Special Forces Company based in Monte Vista, Compostella Valley gave military honors and handed over the Philippine flag to Dequito's immediate family.

Dequito also left a woman he was supposed to marry someday. His girlfriend Rean Caballero said the night before the clash in Basilan took place, they still had a phone conversation.

"Parang confident din sila nang pumunta sila doon sa Basilan, kasi sabi nga niya napostpone ang graduation nila nung October 15 tapos sinabi niya na sa 21 na raw, hindi rin nila alam na doon pala sila pupunta sa Basilan at kung ano ang gawin nila doon," she said.

Capt. Jason Pangundoyon, Commanding Officer of the 8th SF Company personally handed the flag to Dequito's father and said that he is proud of what his soldier has shown to the Filipino people.

In Tupi, South Cotabato, meanwhile, Private First Class Garry Colonia was also brought to his final resting place.

His family and friends are also crying for justice. They said it is unfair for a 26-year old to meet an early death.

Nonetheless, they said his death will not go for naught as long as the government will be able to track down those who should be liable.

PFC Roberto Ricafranca, on the other hand, was also buried by family and friends in Dumanggas, Iloilo.

His brother, Sgt. Michael Ricafranca, said: "Dapat sana sumuko na sila kung hindi man dapat habulin ng gobyerno."

His wife, Rea, said: “Kung kasalanan sa Dyos ang pumatay, kung magkaharap kami, gagawin ko rin sa kanila yung brutal na pagpatay nila sa asawa ko.”

The family of PFC Jonis Rigor is still dumbfounded over the incident, on the other hand. Rigor was brought to his final resting place in Dagupan on Saturday.

He was supposed to be on his way home from a scuba diving class, but fate turned out differently.

Iron fist needed?

Dequito's family is also urging President Benigno Aquino III to use an iron fist in giving justice to the soldiers who have died in the conflict.

Emelita Dequito, his mother, also said the commander responsible for sending the government troops to combat should learn from his mistakes.

"Sa ground commander, sana huwag na sana itong mangyari ulit at matulad sa iba ang nangyari sa anak ko..at sa gobyerno ng Pilipinas, kay Pangulong Aquino, ikaw ang may power sa bansa pero bakit ganito ang nangyari?" she said.

His uncle, Rodolfo Dimzon, also said that the young generations will no longer pursue their dreams of becoming soldiers if justice will not be served.

"Nakakahiya hindi natin sila makaya, baka ang mga bata na gusto maging sundalo paglaki nila, hindi na magtuloy sa kanilang pangarap dahil sa nangyari," Rodolfo said.

The families will continue to seek justice for the untimely deaths of the 19 soldiers and calls for Aquino and Presidential Adviser Teresita Deles to end the conflict in Mindanao. – by Lora Mae Andong, Ernest Vidal, Anne Santos and John Fernandez, ABS-CBN Regional Network Group

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Do part-time working moms have the best gig around?

If you’ve ever suspected that part-time working moms have the best of all worlds, new research backs you up. A study published recently in the Journal of Family Psychology reports that moms who worked less than 33 hours per week were less depressed, had less work-family conflict and spent more time on learning opportunities for their kids than both stay-at-home moms and full-time moms.

The study, conducted by Cheryl Buehler and Marion O’Brien, from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, looked at how part-time work affected mom’s health, life at home, parenting and marital satisfaction. There’s been plenty of research (and internet flaming) comparing the parenting outcomes of working moms to stay-at-home moms – but that misses a pretty significant chunk of the American workforce. About a quarter of all U.S. women work part-time schedules, according to the Department of Labor, and a majority of mothers work part-time at some point in their adult lives.

Over 1,300 moms were followed for 10 years, and interviewed at eight different time periods: when the kids were a month old, 6, 15, 36 and 54 months old, and in their first, third and fifth grade years.

And over those years, the study found that moms who worked full-and-part-time jobs reported being less depressed than stay-at-home moms. The authors theorized that this could be because moms home with young children tend to be more socially isolated than their working counterparts. Or, it could be that women prone to depression have more trouble seeking work or keeping a job, the study said.

Moms who work part-time have fewer concerns that their work is impacting life at home – no surprise there. And moms who work part time were able to provide more extra-curricular learning opportunities for their kids – things like going to the park, taking lessons, going to the museum. “Mothers who are working part time presumably have more time to spend with the child doing things that are enriching,” said O’Brien. But interestingly, the study didn’t find much difference on this front between part-time working moms and moms who weren’t employed.

The study authors had assumed that moms who worked part-time would report higher marital satisfaction than moms who worked full-time jobs, but that didn’t pan out. “There’s no relationship between work status and satisfaction with the marriage,” said O’Brien.

Mom is doing the lion’s share of the child care and housework, whether she works part-time or she’s a stay-at-home mom, according to the study. That burden of household chores doesn’t appear to shift over to dad until mom is working full-time hours, said O’Brien.  But still, “mothers always do more, even when they’re working full time,” she added.

The conclusion? Part-time work has some real advantages for mothers and families in terms of lower stress. But part-time work isn’t always an option for mom (or dad, for that matter), due to financial realities and the impact scaled-back hours can have on a career. “A lot of women find it’s not possible for them to work part-time due to the structure of the workplace,” said O’Brien. “Since we would like to see families healthy and happy, it would be nice for workplaces to take more account of part-time work and see it as a viable way of contributing to work, and not just a lower-status kind of thing.”

What’s your work situation, and what would be your ideal? Do you think the grass is always greener when it comes to stay-at-home and working moms?

"Like" TODAY Moms on Facebook, and follow us @TodayMoms

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Fairfax County Moms Push For "Real Food" In Schools

VIENNA, Va.  (WUSA) - What are your kids eating at school? Does their lunch food come pre-cooked in plastic bags and then warmed up in an oven? That's how most of the hot lunches are prepared in schools these days. But two Fairfax County moms are trying to change that.

"It's a sad day when I'd rather my kids eat at McDonalds than their school's cafeteria," said Jocelyn Hsu, a certified nutrition educator.

She's referring to the 34 ingredients in the Fairfax County School's hamburger. The list of ingredients can be found on a link on the FCPS website. It's a bit difficult to read, but we could make out caramel coloring, vegetable protein, potassium chloride and copper gluconate.

The two women would like to see the school burgers be made with just beef, salt and pepper, like a McDonald's burger, but better. However, That would entail cooking. 

"They have taken all the stoves out. Everything comes in plastic bags," said  Hsu, who explains that the meals are pre-cooked and are only warmed up. 

Hsu and JoAnne Hammermaster. two Vienna moms with children in Fairfax County Schools, have started the website Real Food for Kids to encourage a change.  They want  to see every school have a fresh vegetable salad bar, they want the system to get rid of processed food in favor of whole foods and foods that are cooked in the school kitchens.

To the criticism that all the cooking and fresh foods would be too costly, the women point to other school districts that are doing it.

D.C. Schools have made huge changes in their food service, thanks to the director of Food and Nutrition Services, Jeff Mills.

The D.C. School website lists the 13 farms in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey where all their fresh vegetables come from.

Mills says it you go out and find local produce, it will taste better, and be cheaper to transport than if you order it from across the country. "And if it tastes better, they'll eat it," he said.

Fairfax County Schools say their lunches are nutritious and that they strive hard to also make them appetizing, often holding taste tests in schools before introducing new products. 

A schools spokesperson also says they are open to suggestions from parents and are working with another grass roots organization for changes to the school lunch menu.

Written by Peggy Fox

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Hollywood Moms' Designing Daughters are Becoming FashionPlaytes

What young girl doesn't want to design her own clothes? Now there's a website that lets tweenage girls do just that, with the fashions then being professionally produced and sent to them to wear. Why, you may discover you have a budding Donna Karan, Vera Wang or Coco Chanel in your house.

FashionPlaytes is already popular with celebrity moms and their fashion-conscious daughters, who enjoy the interactive outlet for self-expression and an empowering alternative to store-bought clothes. We can't give away names (yet) due to confidentiality issues, but these famous daughters girls -- just like yours -- can create their own wardrobes online -  from tops to dresses, pajamas to accessories. They can even design matching doll clothes -- look out, American Girl! And did we mention that the girls can create their own models to try on the outfits on the site?

Your daughters can also create a personalized labels, so they can proudly show off their creations with their very own designer label. Who doesn't want their own fashion label? Like, OMG, right?

FashionPlaytes CEO Sarah McIlory is a mom of two, and had fond memories of designing clothes with her mother when she was growing up. When Mcllory became a mother to two girls, she wanted to pass on that experience to her daughters, but in a modern way. 

Thus was born FashionPlaytes! Launched in 2009, the company's headquarters are in Beverly, MA, and they still invite girls in on a regular basis to test out the experience - so all items sold on FashionPlaytes are kid-tested, parent-approved! FashionPlaytes took a big boost in August 2011 when it was featured on The Today Show. You can also check out their Facebook community page.

For holidays and for any special occasion, FashionPlaytes gift certificates are an original, affordable, gift for any independent, creative 'tween. With a FashionPlaytes gift certificate, she can customize her outfit online, and have it shipped right to her.  Gift certificates start at $20.

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“Dance Moms” Reveal Inside Scoop Behind Hit Reality Show

PENN HILLS (KDKA) — The hit reality show “Dance Moms” on Lifetime is shot locally at a dance studio in Penn Hills.

It’s about a handful of local mothers and their daughters who dance at the Abby Lee Dance Company, competing to win national titles. But tempers flare and it can get nasty at times.

Dance rehearsal at Abby Lee’s studio is a lot like what you see on the show.

Owner Abby Lee is tough on her dancers, and she doesn’t hold back, but it’s the dance moms who create the real drama.

Christi Lukasiak, whose daughter, Chloe, is one of the stars in the company, says she’s just being herself.

“I’m not the kind of person to keep quiet and keep it to myself, so I let Abby know, which may not make for the easiest work environment,” says Lukasiak.

Melissa Gisoni and her daughters, Maddie and Mackenzie, are also featured in “Dance Moms.”

“The drama between the moms is definitely real, but you don’t see everything that happens. It’s all in the editing,” Gisoni said.

Now, the girls and their moms have become celebrities with fans all over the country.

“We were going up an escalator at the mall, and girls were going down the escalator and they were like taking pictures of us and were like, ‘I love you,’” said 7-year-old Mackenzie.

Chloe says the girls really are friends; it’s the moms who create the drama.

KDKA asked Abby Lee why she thinks the show’s a hit.

“I’d like to attribute it to me, but I hope it’s the dancing,” said Abby Lee.

Despite how some may be portrayed on television, they’ve all signed up for a second season.

“I’m proud to be a dance mom, I support my daughter,” Lukasiak said. “[It’s] no different from a football dad or a soccer mom. The only real difference is our girls are wearing rhinestones and fake eyelashes.”

Earlier today, Abby Lee and the producers for Lifetime held open auditions to be one of the new featured mom and dancer on the show. The new season starts in January.

For more information on the auditions and the show, visit the links below:
AbbyLeeDanceCompany.com
Facebook.com/DanceMomsonLifetime
Phone Number: (412)-621-2329

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Moms play football for cancer center

CEDAR CITY - The mothers of players in two local youth football leagues went head to head in a game of full-contact football Saturday evening, but they shared the goal of raising money for the Sandra L. Maxwell Huntsman-Intermountain Cancer Center in Cedar City.

Mothers of players in the Southern Utah Youth Football Association, calling themselves the Breast Warriors, competed against mothers of Youth Football USA players at the Cedar High School stadium. Both teams wore black jerseys with their team names emblazoned in bright pink.

The money raised in ticket sales is going directly to breast cancer awareness efforts and equipment at the local cancer center, said Amy Bleak, a nursing manager for infusion and cancer services at the cancer center.

Bleak, who played on the YFUSA team Saturday, said her mother battled and beat breast cancer.

"I've seen it up close," Bleak said, adding that as the center's treatment options improve, the survival rate is increasing.

The cancer center is in the midst of an expansion project, and when that is completed, she said chemotherapy and radiation treatments will be performed in the same building. She said some of the proceeds from the game will be funding the project.

Lauren Nelson was playing with the SUYFA Breast Warriors. She said her mother beat breast cancer twice and has also received treatment for melanoma.

"My mom is my best friend, so to see her go through that pain was just absolute torture," Nelson said.

Nelson said she learned about Saturday's game through a friend whose son plays youth football, and she wanted to sign up for it immediately.

Ginny Shortt, whose great grandmother and mother both went through breast cancer, played on the YFUSA team. She said her mother is a 12-year breast cancer survivor.

Jay Ziegler, who runs the SUYFA league, served as the head coach for the Breast Warriors. Although his league is a rival of YFUSA, he said he appreciated seeing the leagues get together to play football for a good cause.

Jesse Hirschi, head coach for the YFUSA team, said not only were the women playing for a good cause, but their participation in the game would give them a chance to experience some of what their sons go through while playing football.

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Master Marketing to Moms

Mom has the power of the family purse. So why do marketers so badly miss the mark when attempting to target mothers?

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PURSE POWER: If women control so much of a family's spending, why do marketers stereotype and so poorly target mothers?

The modern mother performs a complex—and unceasing—juggling act. She balances a career, children, and—most importantly to business—the family bank accounts. Moms accounted for $2.5 trillion in spending last year, according to BSM Media, a market research firm based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Not that mothers are necessarily happy about it: 75 percent of mothers say marketers and advertisers don't understand what it's like to be a mom, according to global market-research agency MinTel, which also conducts an annual report on marketing toward mothers. "Given the fact companies small, medium, and large spend billions of dollars to sell to moms, and 75 percent of moms say they don't get it: That's a pretty big problem," says Katherine Witsch, who recently created a new division for The Martin Agency devoted solely to marketing geared at mothers. It's called The Mom Complex. Inc.com's Abram Brown spoke with Witsch on mommy stereotypes, tapping the purse's spending power, and winning the hearts of mothers everywhere.

What pushed you to start The Mom Complex?
It started as a personal frustration of mine. When I was at the stage of having a 3-year-old and an infant, I was practically crying myself to sleep at night because it was so hard. And when I watched television ads or read magazines, I felt like the treatment of mothers was incredibly idealized and trivialized. I never noticed this before I became a mom.

So the picture of mom in that matching outfit is not the image to market?
The images are certainly inaccurate. I don't look so polished and put together everyday, nor does any mom that I know. The moms that I've studied don't actually say that they're striving for perfection. They're striving to keep everything under control, keep the family moving. Perfection is certainly not a goal of theirs.

If you’re going to market mom, you need a product that makes her life easier?
Exactly. I think that companies should be developing better services, better products for moms to help make their lives easier. I just have the belief that when you idealize the mother's life, it doesn't show what it's really like. It's not going to feel like you understand her. Just the notion of having the goal of making mom's life easier is implied that life isn’t perfect.

It seems like there might be a whole sector of goods and services out there that aren’t marketing to mom, but maybe they should be.
Absolutely. Even with the role of digital, in the studies that I’ve done, moms will tell us that the role of digital in her life is to make her life more efficient. A good company might combine multiple tasks in an app. If you can cut out a trip to the store with an app or through a website, then I think companies need to start thinking about what their efficiency quotient is with moms: How do we make their lives a little bit easier?

Have you seen any small businesses that have done this effectively?
There's a new company called Plum. It's a small start-up that calls itself the "Netflix for kids' clothes." So what happens is that, I order a bag of Size 2 boys clothes. I keep those clothes for as long as I need to use them; I return them for a Size 3 bag of boys clothes. It's making my life easier. There's another similar company called Rent the Runway, where you can rent designer clothes for your one event and then give them back.

Those two companies have the perfect product to market mom. But have you seen any business with the right product and the right campaign?
CitySitters.com. It's a small company recognizing that moms need sitters all the time. It's hard to find a sitter. So it's  screening them for you. It's basically the Match.com for babysitters, which is brilliant. And their communication is really, really well done. It's smart. It's funny. It's intelligent. They depict the baby sitter having a blast with the kids, which I love. You want your kids to love the babysitter and to be really, really entertained. But then the babysitter is really conscious to clean up the house, put it back together again. So for mom, it's the best of both worlds. A babysitter who has fun with her kids, wrecks the house, but then puts it back together again. That's reality. That's what happens what babysitters come over.

There’s no mom in that ad, though.
Which I like. A lot of marketers think you have to show a mom in order to connect with the mom, and it's simply not the case.

So what are some key mistakes when it comes to marketing mom?
One is that the moms are always happy, especially when cleaning. Children are always depicted as obedient angels—you know, the kids are all too happy to eat their vegetables. Another one is the wardrobing of mothers. You'll notice that almost all of them have cardigans and Capri pants. That's the wardrobe of a mother in advertising. Another one is that so often the moms are talking to camera. You know, "Hi, my name is Susie. You too can have a clean house if you follow what I'm doing." It's almost as if there's another mom talking down to us.

What happens if you violate these rules?
I think you've missed a connection with the mothers. I think it impacts sales and other things like loyalty. I think the ultimate reaction is that mother just dismiss it. It doesn't catch their eye. And one of the things that's frustrating is that we're not talking about a group of aliens here. We're talking about mothers. And most marketers are a mom. They have a mom. Or they're married to a mom.

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