March is a busy month for awareness’s.  There are many causes to be informed about.  Let’s take a look at a few.

Here is an interesting awareness, National School Breakfast Week.  The School Nutrition Association (formerly American School Food Service Association) is a national, nonprofit professional organization representing more than 55,000 members who provide high-quality, low-cost meals to students across the country. Recognized as the authority on school nutrition, the School Nutrition Association (SNA) has been advancing the availability, quality and acceptance of school nutrition programs as an integral part of education since 1946.

The Association works to ensure all children have access to healthful school meals and nutrition education by: providing members with education and training, setting standards through certification and credentialing, gathering and transmitting regulatory, legislative, industry, nutritional and other types of information related to school nutrition, representing the nutritional interests of all children.

Save Your Vision Weekis pretty important to know about, as the premier authority in the optometry profession, the American Optometric Association leads the way in its mission of improving the quality and availability of eye and vision care everywhere. With more than 34,000 members serving nearly 6,500 American communities, AOA helps optometrists provide over two thirds of all primary eye care in the United States.

Due to the overwhelming number of children with eye and vision problems across the United States, Optometry’s Charity™ – The AOA Foundation, and The Vision Care Institute™, a Johnson & Johnson company, created InfantSEE®, a no-cost public health program developed to provide professional eye care for infants nationwide. Cooing, sitting up and crawling are signs that an infant is growing. Her vision has stages of development, but this process rarely has visible signs.

Optometrists encourage parents to include a trip to the optometrist on the list of well-baby check-ups. Assessments at six to twelve months of age can determine healthy development of vision. Early detection of eye conditions is the best way to ensure an infant has healthy vision for successful development—now and in the future.

InfantSEE®, a public health program, managed by Optometry’s Charity™ – The AOA Foundation, is designed to ensure that eye and vision care becomes an integral part of infant wellness care to improve a child’s quality of life. Under this program, AOA optometrists provide a no-cost comprehensive eye and vision assessment for infants within the first year of life regardless of a family’s income or access to insurance coverage.

National Poison Prevention Week is pretty important, especially with toddlers and curious children in your home. Some 30 children die every year due to accidental poisonings, and approximately 1 million phone calls are placed to Poison Control Centers

 annually by adults seeking help when children have swallowed something harmful. In an effort to prevent such tragic events, the U.S. Congress established National Poison Prevention Week on September 16, 1961 (P.L. 87-319). Shortly thereafter, the Poison Prevention Week Council was organized to coordinate this annual event. National Poison Prevention Week, the third week in March each year, is a week nationally designated to highlight the dangers of poisonings and how to prevent them. However, every day people can and do prevent poisonings. We invite you to review the information on this site and become actively involved in helping ensure the safety of children and adults in your home and your community.

National Doctors’ Day provides a time for people to show appreciation to the doctors who care for them or their loved ones. Both patients and those who work for or with physicians may recognize, thank or show appreciation by giving cards, notes, commemorative tokens of remembrance, etc.  Patients who have long-term relationships with their doctors for example, a woman during pregnancy, someone with a long-term or terminal illness, families who rely on their family doctor, or anyone who wants to thank a physician for the care he or she has provided, take the opportunity to single out a special doctor, psychologist, dentist, chiropractor, nurse practitioner, or other health-care professional.

The first Doctors Day observance was March 30, 1933 in Winder, Georgia.  Eudora Brown Almond, wife of Dr. Charles B. Almond, decided to set aside a day to honor physicians. This first observance included the mailing greeting cards and placing flowers on graves of deceased doctors. The red carnation is commonly used as the symbolic flower for National Doctors Day.  If you want to show off your appreciation by having your kids wear scrubs checkout Princess Linens wonderful personalized baby scrubs!

On March 30, 1958, a Resolution Commemorating Doctors Day was adopted by the United States House of Representatives. In 1990, legislation was introduced in the House and Senate to establish a national Doctors Day. Following overwhelming approval by the United States Senate and the House of Representatives, on October 30, 1990, President George Bush signed S.J. RES. #366 (which became Public Law 101-473) designating March 30 as “National Doctors Day.”  Let your Doctors know that you appreciate them and send them a card!

Here is an awareness that is quickly climbing charts, Mompreneur! Who or what exactly is a mompreneur? Any female business owner who is actively balancingthe role of mom and the role of entrepreneur.   Well by definition being a mompreneur sounds pretty simple…  According to Entrepreneur.com, many mothers are beginning to start their own business as a way to balance work and family life.  By going into a field in which an individual has experience or knowledge, starting up a company may be an easy way to stay employed on their own terms.  According to BusinessWeek, half of U.S. businesses are run by women, totaling 10 million companies!  That little fact I did NOT realize.  Impressive ladies!

Moms know everything, they know where their kids left their socks, they know what time the carpool leaves, they know how to get a cranky 4-year-old through a shopping mall. Given their mastery of multitasking, is it any wonder mothers make such good business owners.  I’m not shocked Not if recent statistics are any clue.  There are 10.6 million women-owned businesses in the United States, generating $2.5 trillion in annual revenue, according to the Center for Women’s Business Research. Women are starting businesses at nearly twice the rate of men.  And women with children are jumping in–each with a different business goal, a different family situation and a different strategy to balance it all.

I was recently given a book to read all about parenthood and entrepreneurship, eager to dive right in as I am a stay at home mom with an itch to make some money   Well that does seem to be the basic ingredients for this mompreneur recipe, but after reading Julie Lenzer Kirk’s book, The ParentPreneur Edge I became aware of I needed to go grocery shopping for some more essential ingredients

 In The ParentPreneur Edge, award winning entrepreneur and mother of two,Julie Lenzer Kirk draws upon her extensive experience to offer readers the humor, practical advice, and strategies needed to start, grow, and run a successful business. Using parenting anecdotes, she provides a refreshing twist on the typical business book, this feature of the books style made it an easy and applicable read in many ways.  The book explores the similarities between parenting and running a business, and reveals how readers can successfully draw on parenting insights to provide an edge in entrepreneurship.  After reading Julies book I began envisioning different scenarios in my head, would my fabulous ability to text, while feeding my 9 month old, while talking my 3 year old out of a fit and contemplating dinner plans make me successful in my own business?  She says YES

Filled with in-depth insights and real life stories, which will enable readers to learn from the experience of others, The ParentPreneur Edge offers proven guidance for those who have ever dreamed of starting and running their own business or who are ready to take their existing business to a new level.  More than just the title of Julie’s book,  the ParentPreneur Business Consulting Services help you maximize your experiences as a parent to break through barriers at work. Whether you work for yourself or someone else, you can leverage what you’ve learned between home and work to be more successful at both. 

If  you have an itch, then make reading this book one of your first smart steps in becoming self employed.  Research is essential, financial planning and motivation.  Let Julie’s book and services be your smart tools, resources to help guide you along your journey.  Best of luck!

GIVEAWAY: Win your own copy of Julie’s book The ParentPreneur Edge!  Simply head on over to The ParentPreneur Edge and become a subscriber to the monthly e-newsletter.  Contest ends in one week, good luck to all!

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