About ModelMom

Welcome to my blog. Here’s a bit about how it got started and the people behind it.

My 14 (now 15) year old daughter has been ‘discovered’ by a modeling agency and of course, wants to do it. The irony is that I am a child development professional, feminist and educator who teaches about media representations of women, and has counseled women with eating disorders for many years. I have very mixed feelings about this whole thing, but am venturing into this world with Alice, my daughter, to keep her safe and happy.

I am currently an Associate Professor of Parent and Family Education  in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction at the University of Minnesota. There I teach graduate courses that help prepare parent educators, and researchers in parenting and family life education. Before moving to Minnesota in 2007, we lived in the Maryland (near DC) where I worked at the Univ. of MD (go Terps) in the Dept. of Family Studies and Cooperative Extension where I did a ton of outreach and education on family and youth type topics. My work is also as an advocate for parents and for the professionals who support families, such as child care workers. I largely work and do research on under resourced families, with particular interest in those that are headed or supported by women’s work and their caregiving.

My other feminist sensibilities comes from my early work as a nutritionist. For the first 10 years of my career I was a nutrition educator and counselor, and developed a specialty in eating disorders. It was actually this work that raised my interest and fascination with the factors that influence behavior and development, inside and out, and that led to my further study of human development and social contexts (and parenting).

Finally, it’s fair to say that my perspective on being a woman has been greatly shaped by my own timeline. I was born in the mid-1950s and went through high school in the late 60s and early 70s. It was a time when our mothers didn’t model for us the women we were to become, yet had lots of encouragement and eventually opportunities in school, work and the media. I’ve worked and supported myself since I was 22. I have been very priveleged in many ways and strongly support every woman’s choice in how she wants her life to be, in whatever roles she chooses.

Our family now lives in St. Paul. Alice is now 15 and a sophomore in high school. In addition to her friends, she loves to dance (ballet, Danceline), read (most currently the Twilight series), watch movies (she gets that from me) and shop. She’s very gifted as an artist, but doesn’t pursue that interest (sadly). My husband and Alice’s dad Patrick works in data and statistics in downtown Minneapolis. And we have three wonderful pets: Oscar and Grace (cats) and Audrey, the practically perfect pug.

I started this blog in early July, 2008, as Alice ventured into this modeling thing. She may decide she really doesn’t want to work so hard. The agency may decide they don’t want her after she fails to grow or grows too much. And the reality of this may finally wake me up to the social and personal evils at play. Until then, share my thoughts and our experiences – and let me know your’s.

Susan