iBlog Friday: Our weekly roundup of Aussie bloggers

At iVillage we’re passionate about supporting Australian bloggers. That’s why we’ve created iBlog Friday.

It’s a chance for bloggers to introduce their favourite post of the week to iVillage readers and for our community to read what Aussie writers are up to.

Here are the bloggers who have sent their submissions this week. Happy reading!

Brooke Osborne of The Lover List shares her thoughts on arguably the cutest haircut a person can get (particularly kids!) in her post The 'Pixie' hair cut.

Now you and I have never met, but I’ve been sporting the pixie cut for about 10 years. Why? Pure laziness. (Why tie your hair back each day in a ponytail when you can cut it spiky short and get confused for a guy?).

At first I thought I’d appear to be boyfriend repellant. However I managed to snag myself a husband with this short hair do!

Read the rest of Brooke's posts here.

Lisa Wilson of Two Point Five Kids tackles sexism in the work place in her post Sexism in the workforce and why WE are to blame.

Your answer is the reason why women will NEVER get a fair go in employment. This is because the race was never fair to start with. Where is it fair for a company to hire a person, only to have them go on maternity leave after 12 months, require their position be available to them after 12 months, thus hiring someone else on a temporary basis who still needs the same training again, and then if the original employee no longer want this position after 12 months the company must find another position found for them at the same company, thus forcing yet another person be found and trained for the original position? If they hired the bloke, then this scenario doesn't exist and the company saves money. Lots of it. Heaps. They can produce their product at a cheaper price and are still in the rat-race for shelf space. It simply doesn't make financial sense to choose the woman over the man in the above scenario. A savvy CEO would never do it. In fact, they would be deemed to be negligent in their job if they were to hire the woman in the previous scenario.

Read the rest of Lisa's post here.

Erin Giansiracusa of The Mum's Group reveals in her mummy tummy in her post The story of my stomach.

Every day we see images of celebrities who are showing off their flatter than flat tummies, minutes after giving birth. Headlines that read "you wouldn't even know she's had a baby". Bikini shots, upon bikini shots. It's enough to make even the most confident new mum, feel pretty crappy about herself.

The truth is, it's rare that your stomach snaps back to it's normal size, straight after birth. In fact it's scientifically impossible. Your uterus needs to shrink and that can take time. For some people, it's longer than others.

Read the rest of Erin's post here.

Kellie Turtu of Mama Pyjama discusses gender rules, inspired by her heel-wearing toddler in her post Gender "Rules".

Having boys has forced me to question a lot about society and a man’s place within it.  I’m not sure how to respond to statements like these.  After all, some boys do grow up to be girls and there is no valid reason why a boy can’t wear makeup or don pink boots.  In my heart of hearts I don’t care at all that my son’s favourite colour is pink and that he likes to play with makeup and have his nails painted.  I’m pretty sure most boys his age do too – probably because it’s fun and pink is great and they haven’t yet been told that being a boy somehow means they’re not supposed to enjoy these things.  But the social survival part of my brain questions my responsibility as a parent to ensure he understands the social ‘rules’ around gender roles.  I don’t want to perpetuate gender stereotypes, but I do want to ensure my child is well-equipped to deal socially with his peers.

Read the rest of Kellie's post here.

Tania Condren of Rowdy Fairy celebrates weirdness in her post I Love Quirky People.

Read the rest of Tania's post here.

Susan Taylor of One Woman Circus talks about when social media and motherhood collide in her post I almost named my son after an iPhone app. Really. 

Long before babies were officially on the agenda, my husband and I had often discussed children and occassionally even brought up name options (as you do). During one of these moments my husband stated that if we were ever to have a boy, he wanted to name our son after his grandfather who was very kind to him when he was a child. I had no problem with this, except for his name was Cyril. Not being pregnant at that stage I kind of agreed to it anyway and didn't think too much about it again, until fast forward to a few years later when I'm actually pregnant and have found out we're having a boy. Reality sunk in.

Read the rest of Susan's post here.

Rebecca Bowyer of Seeing the Lighter Side of Parenting discusses her son's bird phobia in her post The Birds.

One of the earliest signs that Son #1 was developing ornithophobia (yep, it’s a fear, it has a name) was at around 18 months of age when he would refuse to go out the back door if there was a crow sitting on the fence. We immediately started our own form of cognitive behavioural therapy: we would carry him outside and parody the crows’ cries while tickling him. This made him laugh, for a while.

Read the rest of Rebecca's post here.

Tracey Fox of Still Just Us thinks it's time we stood up for something we all seem to have forgotten about in her post Words deserve equality.

People don’t care as much about words as they used to. I think it’s fairly evident from a casual glance on Facebook that there’s a general disregard for spelling and grammar. Yes, I have been known to browse the internet gnashing my teeth at the misuse of “your” and “you’re”, mentally removing apostrophes from the word “its” and bemoaning the amount of people that think “would of” is the same as “would have”, but I understand how it happens in everyday communication. I may not love it, but I can tolerate it. Not everyone cares about it as much as I do and if spelling and grammar aren’t your strong suit, then you shouldn’t have to censor yourself on social media. Feel free to carry on – my teeth can take it.

Read the rest of Tracey's post here.

Louisa Simmonds of My Midlife Mayhem shares her difficult parenting week in her post The Lethal Cocktail of ADHD and Depression. *This post includes explicit language. 

I sat in an ADHD support group last week, trying not to laugh hysterically as I listened to this fantastic speaker, Caroline Stevenson, reaffirm what life is truly like with ADHD kids. She talked of highs and lows, sinking and swimming – drowning a lot.

Read the rest of Louisa's post here.

Shelley Marsh of Money Mummy says there are two important conversations parents need to start having with their kids in her post Why money is just as important as sex (when talking to your children).

Most parents see it as part of their role to have the birds and the bees talk with their children.  They expect that at some point in time it is a conversation (or in most cases, several conversations) that that they will have to have.  It is seen as an integral part of the parent job description, crucial to bringing up a well rounded child.

But why is it not the same with money?  We talk openly with our children about sex but shy away from something that will be just as an integral part of their adult lives.  Think of how many money related things you do every day – go to work, buy the groceries, pay bills, use a credit card, pay the mortgage or the rent.  Whether we like it or not money is an integral part of our daily lives.  I don’t mean this in a “money is the be all and end all” kind of way because it most certainly is not.  But you have to admit understanding your finances is pretty important and the consequence of poor financial decisions can be dire.  So why isn’t it up there with sex when it comes to talking to our children?

Read the rest of Shelley's post here.

Kathryn Boyde of Katzrambles tries to make peace with the challenges of being a 'grown up' in her post I'm jealous of my children.

I would not consider myself an overly superstitious person. However, just this morning I have found out that somebody I know has cancer, somebody has had a stroke and add to the fact that everybody seems to be broke – I am starting to wonder if there really is something in it?

Then I look at my children. Such happy little beings with their naive optimism and childish concerns; My six-year-old’s biggest worry at the moment is that Christmas is not coming fast enough and my four-year-old is concerned that it might be her brother’s turn for the TV and she will have to sit through an episode of Star Wars.

Read the rest of Kathryn's post here.

This week's winner will be published on Monday and will receive a Cetaphil Pack. Send your entry through to info@themotherish.com by midday on Thursday.

People don’t care as much about words as they used to. I think it’s fairly evident from a casual glance on Facebook that there’s a general disregard for spelling and grammar. Yes, I have been known to browse the internet gnashing my teeth at the misuse of “your” and “you’re”, mentally removing apostrophes from the word “its” and bemoaning the amount of people that think “would of” is the same as “would have”, but I understand how it happens in everyday communication. I may not love it, but I can tolerate it. Not everyone cares about it as much as I do and if spelling and grammar aren’t your strong suit, then you shouldn’t have to censor yourself on social media. Feel free to carry on – my teeth can take it.