A few months ago, I got wind of a plucky little start-up called, Triberr, and was intrigued by its premise. I don’t remember who first told me about it, but I do recall being so driven by distraction at the time that I put off joining until recently.

Unfortunately, one does not join Triberr. One is invited to Triberr.

Invitations are intentionally scarce and somewhat arduous to come by. The tribe “chiefs” are given a set number of invite codes and it’s up to them to suss out who they do (or do not) want in their circles. If you know someone who is already on Triberr, you will have to ask them for the “secret code” to let you in and hope that they pick you. Once you are invited to join, then you have the option to create your own tribes and the ability to invite others to join too.

After a few days of poking around for an invitation, I received this mysterious DM from the founders:

So, what is this elusive thing that I must patiently await as if it were enlightenment?

Continue reading on my tech column at ShePosts… 

Friday afternoon, my son greeted me after school a huge smile and a heavy backpack.

“Is this all of your work from your very first week of Kindergarten?” I asked in delirious excitement.

“No, Mommy. It’s something for you,” he said handing over his load. Inside was The Entertainment Book, two catalogs- one for cookie dough and one for wrapping paper, and a letter to the parents. Gee thanks, school.  

This is my third year as a parent at this school, so I know the drill and I  know that the school really needs the help. Incidentally, this is also the third year that I’ve petitioned for a “Write a Check” campaign and have been refused. Apparently, our school has some very “motivated” parents who like the thrill of the sale and I am definitely NOT one of them.

I went to private school all of my life and I’ve choose to do the same for my own children. I know this part of the deal, but things have changed significantly since my day.

For one, my little sister and I actually used to go door to door unaccompanied throughout the far-reaches of our neighborhood to do our school fundraising– something completely unheard of these days.  I barely let my children play in the front yard without my supervision, so the onus of raising these funds are all on me, which brings me back to my original point…

Let’s just have a ”Write a Check” campaign and call it a day, shall we? No? Huumph. 

In that case, here are three fundraising ideas that have captured my imagination and my heart in the past few days: 

Original Works of Art

Last week, Cool Mom Picks featured an interesting school fundraising idea from Portrait Press Fundraising. Instead of shilling stuffy wrapping paper or cookie dough I wouldn’t trust to spackle a bathtub, why not offer original art from the kids in the class?

Two Brooklyn parents–daunted by the amount of money their schools always needed (but couldn’t seem to raise)–realized that if they sold an item everyone wanted, money could be raised with a lot less fuss. So they developed their Portrait Press fundraising kit, wherein each class creates artwork for a tea towel, pillowcase, or tote bag.  (source: Cool Mom Picks)

It’s a very sweet idea, but…. of course, I can’t seem to leave well enough alone.  I would only be interested if I could purchase just MY kids’ artwork or hand print or whatever on the object.

Frankly, I don’t really want to remember the kid who threw Scout’s shoe in the toilet and thereby forced me to carry him… and his backpack… and his lunchbox… and his sister to the car…

Yes. This is a true story. It happened a few weeks ago during camp, but I’m still bitter about it. Slightly.

Building a Library

Another idea that my co-room parent offered up for the school auction in the Spring is to have the Kindergarten paint a bookcase. Each family contributes a few book to put on it and the entire thing is put on auction. The highest bidder would get to keep the bookcase and all of the books.

It supports reading. It involves the parents and the kids, and it’s something people would actually want. I love, love, love this idea.

Priceless Photos into Holiday Cards

No one can resist adorable photos of their own child, especially when an expert photographer is taking them!

To help raise money for the school, a parent at my Lou’s daycare volunteered to do photo sessions with the kids dressed up as cowboys and girls and riding a pony. I don’t typically go for these sort of staged photos. In fact, I think they are super cheesy, but the look on my daughter’s face riding that pony…. OH MY OVARIES! I bought them. I bought them all!

The best part about it was of the surprise factor. They didn’t announced that they were doing these photos. Well, maybe they did? I don’t know since I’m so rushed trying to get to and from work from the school that I never pay attention to the signs and notices posted.

Of course, this makes me a perfect sucker for these things, because when do busy, over-scheduled, frazzled working parents have time to organize professional photos. Uh, never.

I would have gladly paid triple the amount if they had let me bring my son and given me the digital images for my Christmas cards.

What are your thoughts on school fundraising? What has worked for your school? What has flopped? 

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Remember: Leave a comment on this post for an additional entry into our Fill the Backpack giveaway. Each member of Splash Creative Media is offering a backpack overstuffed with over $750 worth of  Back to School merchandise.  Enter to win on any or on all of our blogs.

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Splash Creative Media as part of the Fill the Backpack Campaign. The thoughts, ideas, and opinions expressed in this post are my own and do not reflect those of  Splash Creative Media or any of our Fill the Backpack sponsors. 

The start of the new school year always feels like a new beginning all around.

Fresh box of crayons! Fresh start! 

With one child successfully in Kindergarten, our family entrenched in our new routine, and the first full week of school almost behind us, I feel like we can finally take a deep breath and reassess a few things.

Getting two kids up and out the door five days a week is a new thing for us, so  we… and by that I mean I… have to find little tricks and tips to make it work. Perhaps, it’s even a good time to address the things that are NOT working for us.

It’s just like making New Year’s Resolutions, except for the whole family and not just for myself. And just like New Year’s Resolutions,  it isn’t enough to just cry out “Arg! Things are going change!”  There need to be some accountability and, my favorite part, a reward.

Mike and I have talked for months about how we need to “write it all down”, “set up a chore chart”, and “get the kids involved”, only to let it slip by the wayside for lack of poster board or something equally as frivolous…

Introducing Marble Jar .

It’s a new app for the iPhone or iPad that works as a fun and positive way to reinforce GOOD behavior. It allows our family to set goals, track our progress, and celebrate accomplishments. Plus, it has a fun little interface that my kids love.

I downloaded it last week and started setting up my jars immediately!

It took three very simple steps to get started:

1. Identify the “Pain Points” in my Life

Starting small, I began the times of day which are the absolute most stressful for our family. They are Getting up/Breakfast and Dinner Time. So I set up a jar for each of these items- “Scout’s Morning Routine” and “Dinner Manners”.

(The third jar is more of an aspirational goal, but one that will take more than marbles to accomplish. It’s potty training Lou and for that, I have to make sure Mike is fully prepared.  Maybe he should have his own Marble Jar: Did Not Cave Out of Laziness and/or Freaking Out… One Meeeee-llion Marbles )

The app comes pre-loaded with some jars in order to showcase how it works. I kept the one that was labelled “Calm Mom” because it just sounded too far-fetched and foreign to me, but I suppose that IS the goal of all this project– Don’t Make Mom Crazy.

2. Think Through the Steps

This part was easy. For example, when it comes to “Dinner Manners” , I just listed the things I repeat so often that I sometimes answer the phone with them.

“Sit down!”

“Stop fighting/talking/yelling and eat!”

“Get back in your chair!”

Restating each into a happy, little likable “to do” is far more pleasant. It reinforces independence, confidence, and responsibility in the kids, and keeps me from having to pointlessly repeat myself over and over again. I just say, “You’re making me lose my marbles!”, which works on multiple levels.

Then, I set up some reasonable goals for the week. Seven marbles for each action for the seven  times a week we eat dinner. Easy.  Then, as each goal is accomplished, a marble is added to the jar. Once the “jar” is full for the week, the kids get a pre-determined reward.

You will notice how my children have not earned any marbles this week. It’s a learning process… for all of us.

3. Come Up With Logical Rewards

What is the logical and natural reward for minding your dinner manners in the Duffy household?

Yeah. Yeah. Don’t judge. If I spend less time having to tell them to how to behave, then maybe, just maybe, they will have just enough time to watch a show before bath time and I can get the dishes washed before midnight. See, we ALL win!

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Marble Jar is available for the iPhone/iPad and it typically just $2.99. This week, it is being offered for FREE in the App Store. So, don’t just take my word on it. Try it for yourself!

The app is geared towards kids ages 2-12, but like the “Calm Mom” example, it works just as well for helping the parents keep on track with their own goals like exercising or getting stuff done around the house.

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Remember: Leave a comment on this post for an additional entry into our Fill the Backpack giveaway. Each member of Splash Creative Media is offering a backpack overstuffed with over $750 worth of  Back to School merchandise.  Enter to win on any or on all of our blogs.

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Marble Jar, a fun parenting tool and app that enables positive encouragement, as part of  Splash Creative Media as part of the Fill the Backpack Campaign. The thoughts, ideas, and opinions expressed in this post are my own and do not reflect those of WinWin Apps, Marble Jar, or Splash Creative Media. 

This is my son after being told to “look normal”.

There wasn’t time to take any more photos because after this, it was off to school and the first day of kindergarten… finally.

It was the morning we should have had four days ago.  Again, he woke up bright and early, cheerful and eager to start the day. I dressed him in his uniform, while Mike packed his lunch. I loaded his brand new school supplies into the trunk of the car and made sure the camera had a full charge. He grabbed his backpack and put on his shoes. Then, we were off to begin the next exciting chapter in our lives.

Elementary School. It’s finally here and there’s no turning back.

A few paragraphs into Tara Sophia Mohr‘s HuffPo piece “Why BlogHer’11 Got Me Angry“, I was squinting to figure out what it was that so enraged her.

Everything she mentioned- the “energy”, the “spirit”, the “impact [women have] in the world”- sounded so idyllic and on point. She even admits to getting “a little choked up” during the ” Operation Glory” flash mob.  If I could have completely shunned the outside world, BlogHer 2011 would have been the perfect dream vacation for me too!

I was nodding, nodding, nodding until I got to this line…

It was also evident in the lack of presence from the rest of the technology world at the conference. Cereal and makeup companies were there, but somehow, almost none of the tech companies who sell services and software to bloggers saw this as a relevant group to promote to.

As someone who was a panelist for a session SPONSORED by Samsung, sat in the Geek Bar for two hours across the room from Google, and attended mtgs with HTC and other tech companies… I was steamed at this comment. On one level, I GET it. BlogHer was a deluge of non-stop sights, sounds, smells, and “Squee-ing” (i.e. the sound women make when they have just been reunited after a long separation, “long” being anywhere from several years to several minutes.)

It’s impossible to get to everything at BlogHer, but just because you are not actively LOOKING to engage with the tech companies does not mean that they were not there. That’s as foolish as asking me to name which fashion or beauty companies were represented. I’m not a style blogger. I have no clue.

Trying not to miss the forest for the trees, I read on and realized her anger wasn’t really about BlogHer at all. Nor was it about the tech companies who were or where not there. It was about the mass media’s tendency to brush aside “women’s concerns” of child-rearing, education, family life, relationships, etc. to “women’s publications”.

[The] continued devaluing of the feminine in our culture, our delusional collective belief that the domain of heart is less important than the domain of the head, that the public realm is somehow more serious than the domestic one. That talk about business, politics and science are of greater importance than talk about mothering, marriage or creating beautiful moments among family and friends.

I agree with her, but I would also like to ask the reverse. Why can’t business, politics, science, and TECHNOLOGY be the domain of women and considered just as important to us as our families?

The real problem I see is this. A man who has children (a dad, if you will) and blogs about politics is a political commentator. If he writes about woodwork, he’s a DIY expert. If  he blogs about video games, he’s a gamer geek. If a mother blogs, she is automatically deemed a “mommy blogger”, even if she never types a single word about her children.

I proudly wear the title of “mommy blogger”. After all, I’ve been blogging about motherhood and my marriage for the past five years. However, I know and respect many women who desire to be seen as “more than a mom” and actually be recognized for the fruits of her brain, not of her womb.

The fact that the rest of the world cannot see this…  Now, that’s what gets me angry.

Until August 31, 2011, ChicaLogic is offering a great Back-to-School special, including both of  its products, ChicaPC-Fix and ChicaPC-Shield, to help clean and fix one’s computer for ONE LOW PRICE of $24.95!! 

Disclosure: This post has been sponsored by ChicaLogic. I have been compensated to represent ChicaLogic as a Brand Ambassador. The thoughts and opinions expressed in this post are my own and do not reflect those of ChicaLogic.