Working women make up almost half (47%) of the U.S. labor force today, and the employment rate of married mothers with children has increased from 37% in 1968 to 65% in 2011.

Some of the analysis about the “breadwinner” statistics dug deeper into the numbers to point out that, in fact, there are two very separate and different groups represented — 5.1 million (37%) of “breadwinners” are married mothers who have a higher income than their husbands, and 8.6 million (63%) of them are single mothers.

Not surprisingly, the income gaps between those two populations are dramatic. The median total family income of married mothers who earn more than their husbands was nearly $80,000 in 2011, well above the national median of $57,100 for all families with children, and nearly four times the $23,000 median for families led by a single mother.

“Certainly more jobs are open to women than in 1960, and more single mothers hold some of those jobs, but to be a single parent is to be, of necessity, the breadwinner,” writes The New York Times Motherlode columnist KJ Dell’Antonia.

The Pew survey also gauged social attitudes regarding working moms. About half (51 percent) of survey respondents say that children are better off if a mother is home and doesn’t hold a job, while just 8 percent say the same about a father. So clearly, we’ve still got a long way to go as far as acceptance for working mothers.

On the flip side, in a guest column in The New York Times, Stephanie Coontz, co-chair at the Council on Contemporary Families, wrote about the benefits of work for women, suggesting that “at all income levels, stay-at-home mothers report more sadness, anger, and episodes of diagnosed depression than their employed counterparts.”

But the real point of Coontz’s column is that we as a society should stop asking whether mothers should work outside of the home, but we should focus on how to help working parents by providing better maternity leave and childcare solutions.

Certainly, we should applaud the fact that working women’s earnings have risen relative to men’s over the past 40 years, but, on average, women’s pay still lags behind. Also, there is still a bias against married women who earn more than their husbands. The divorce rate rises by about half (to about 18% from 12%) in couples where the wife earns more than the husband.

Do you earn more than your husband? How does that impact who makes the buying and parenting decisions and who does the chores?

The post Female Household Breadwinners: Delving Deeper Into The Numbers appeared first on Child's Play Communications.

We also know that marketers are looking to connect with moms via social media. But what’s the best way for marketers to reach moms on social media with relevant messages that make the most of their time?

Michal Clements, author of Tuning Into Mom, writes about how and why moms rely on technology to make their lives easier.

“Many moms also believe it is important for them to stay on top of technologies, both to communicate with their children in the way that is most effective, and as a tool to juggle their busy lives. In our interviews for Tuning Into Mom, we found most moms are highly wired, using mobile and smart phones with texting and e-mail to communicate real-time information with their children and other caregiving adults.”

Want to know how to market to moms effectively? The key to successful social media marketing to moms is to provide them content that makes their lives easier. Whether it is content that will provide information about their child’s health or recipes to serve for family dinner, marketing to moms needs to be relevant to moms’ lives.

There has been a large increase in the number of brands using mom bloggers  to introduce products to fellow moms. Research has shown that moms are more likely to listen to recommendations from other moms.

As Clements points out, moms care about “how technology can make life easier, improve communication quality and bring her family closer together.” The same is true for marketing messages.

The post Moms and Technology: What Marketers Need to Know appeared first on Child's Play Communications.

According to a survey of 2,123 U.S. mothers with children under the age of 18 we conducted this April with NPD Group, 14.6% of moms prefer handmade gifts, followed very closely by a day off (13.6%) and a spa day (12.9%). Clearly, moms need a break more than breakfast in bed (1.3%).

Unfortunately, while most moms think they will receive their top choice this year – 25.6% expect handmade presents from their children – only 3.0% foresee being gifted with time entirely for themselves.

Their expectations are based on past experience. For Mother’s Day 2012, 21.1% report receiving something handmade from their kids. Only 3.2% got a day off. Most–31.8%–received a card. Amazingly, 23.6% got nothing at all.

Some of moms’ favorite past presents are sentimental, such as “my kids themselves,” “hugs and kisses from my kids” and simply “time with the family.”

Spa certificates are also big favorites. So is a clean house, when the work is done by Dad and/or the children. Other most appreciated past gifts include a cruise, an iPad and a car. For one mom, it was “a grill for my husband to cook on” so she wasn’t stuck behind the stove.

Although jewelry as a category rates low in terms of most wanted gifts (3.5%), “mom” jewelry – such as necklaces that say “No. 1 Mom” and rings with the children’s birthstones — is listed among favorite previous gifts, as are diamonds in any configuration.

Worst Mother’s Day gifts from the past? Nearly two dozen moms mention receiving vacuum cleaners. Other least favorite Mother’s Day presents: kitchen appliances, jumper cables and weed eaters. One mom was presented with divorce papers.

Several cite having to cook or clean up after a Mother’s Day meal for their mothers-in-law or having their kids fight all day. Many moms say they have never received a bad Mother’s Day gift. Hundreds of moms, however, say that the “worst gift” was receiving no gift at all.

In fact, 21.3% of moms say that their families will spend nothing on gifts for them this May. “Zero” is the price range with the highest percentage of responses, followed by $10 (16.7%) then $20 (15.3%).

As a mom who has always enjoyed flowers and brunch with my family on Mother’s Day, the fact that so many mothers receive no recognition then is both surprising and sad. I was also struck, once again, by how important the gift of time is to moms.

Offering them an opportunity to step away from the responsibilities of home and family is an ideal way to give back to them for all they do, and Mother’s Day is the ideal time to do it.

The post What Does Mom Really Want This Mother’s Day? appeared first on Child's Play Communications.

Moms also expect their friends and family to use social media, with 22% of moms saying that if their friends and family don’t use social media, they aren’t as involved in their lives.

The findings of this study were the result of an in-depth survey of over 1,480 moms and other online adults, social media diaries from 14 new and expectant moms, and a behavioral and secondary analysis with comScore covering e-commerce habits and social analytics.

“Today’s mom is the most influential and social consumer you’ll meet. Before she clicks to buy, she’s posted, pinned, tweeted, and shared,” said Mike Fogarty, SVP and Global Publisher at BabyCenter. “In fact, social media is so much a part of a mom’s life that checking her various social platforms comes before enjoying her first cup of coffee in the morning. In the three short years since our last report on this topic, social media has become so pervasive, it’s now fundamental to the way today’s moms live their lives.”

Back when BabyCenter released its 2010 Mom Social Influencer Report, Pinterest had just launched. Now, 61% of moms say they have used Pinterest in the last six months, nearly double its 30% usage among the general population.

It’s not surprising to learn that moms are early adopters of devices and that moms are very mobile. Moms are more likely to have smartphones than the general population and are more likely to have used Facebook in the past six months. They also use social media to do research on health and wellness advice, as well to research potential purchases.

Moms also connect with brands on social media, with 73% of them saying they use parenting social media for brand and product recommendations.

In addition to Facebook, moms have higher reach across all major social media platforms including YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google+.

Facebook is still central to moms’ lives, with 92% of them saying they share family milestones on the social network.

The report concludes with these excellent “New Rules for Marketing to Social Mom:”

1. Recognize she’s different, and so are her needs; how and what you talk about matters.
2. Create a give-and-take relationship based on what she finds valuable.
3. Listen to her. Act on what she says; if she asks a question, answer it – every time.
4. Talk to her about things that have nothing to do with you.
5. Support her busy life, don’t make demands, nurture her journey.

The post Social Media Moms Report appeared first on Child's Play Communications.

Disney World and Disneyland topped the list of destinations where moms would like to take their kids, but Hawaii, Europe, California, and The National Parks also ranked high.

“Basically, anywhere fun,” replied one mom. “They have never been to Disney World and I know that would be a family dream come true!”

But moms aren’t only planning family trips. According to the findings of our recent survey, 41.2% of them are also travelling for work. Vacations aren’t just a once-a-year thing for the majority of respondents, with 43% saying they take 2-3 vacations a year and 18.9% saying they take more than 3 vacations a year. In contrast, 37.8% of respondents take 0-1 vacations per year.

Money is the most important factor when determining where to go, according to 43.7% of respondents, while 32.2% said that being “family-friendly” is most important. Other factors cited in deciding where to travel are visiting family (15.6%) and hobbies (3.7%). “It all depends on whether or not we have our kids,” said one mom, referring to how she decides where to go on vacation. “Easy travel logistics” are also important, according to another mom.

The vast majority of respondents (93.7%) said they travel with their children and mostly travel by car (88.9%) over airplane (35.9%) or other modes of transport (4.1%).

Vacations tend to last between 1-2 weeks, according to most respondents (45.2%); 38.1% said they are usually less than one week; 4.8% said they are usually more than 2 weeks; and 11.9% said they take long weekend trips.

47% of respondents said they have a “big summer vacation” planned.  A “dream vacation” involves “peace and quiet,” said one mom, while another said she would be happy to go “anywhere without the kids.” Another said she’d like to go “somewhere we’ve never been before that does not involve visiting family.”

Meanwhile, a recent survey from Fly.com found that 72% of moms believe that airlines do not always adequately cater to families traveling with children.

Not surprisingly, the survey also found that moms find traveling with kids very stressful with 68% of moms rating their stress level as “moderate to extreme.” The main cause of anxiety? Moms are afraid that their child will disturb other passengers – even more than they were concerned about their child’s physical and mental comfort during the flight.

Clearly, airlines aren’t doing a great job of catering to families. With 64% of moms telling Fly.com that they will likely be flying with their children in 2013, there’s a huge potential opportunity for airlines who want to court the family market.

The post Moms and Travel: Survey Results appeared first on Child's Play Communications.

Twenty-five years ago, when I launched an agency dedicated exclusively to bringing brands together with moms, that wasn’t the case. Back then, moms were an “undiscovered” demographic, not perceived as a distinct and worthwhile target for marketers’ time and money—except perhaps when it came to laundry detergent.

Even toys were pitched directly to kids. Cars, vacations, insurance—surely, it was the man of the house who made those decisions! Moms’ purchasing power—and their real role as CFO of the household—was neither acknowledged nor pursued in any meaningful way.

Recent years have marked a sea change, one more akin in strength to a hurricane than a gentle wind: With social media as their primary megaphone, moms have made their voices known, and companies have responded in a big way.

Last year, for example, Procter & Gamble spent millions on a program focused on the moms of Olympians—the largest advertising campaign ever in the company’s 175-year history. Today, there are 38 million US mothers with children under the age of 18 at home, and they mean business—to everyone from office supply manufacturers to music producers.

Once, the only way for publicists to reach mothers was through well-established parenting magazines. These publications were the child rearing (and juvenile-product shopping) bibles of the time. Like so many other media, many have since reduced frequency or shut down completely, while others now live exclusively on the Web.

Independent content providers such as iVillage and Café Mom soon began to capture moms’ attention and loyalty online, by providing not just a way for them to receive information from experts but to exchange advice with each other. For moms, online communities have replaced the local playground as the gathering place of choice.

The most momentous development in communicating with moms, of course, was the coming of social media—starting with the “mommy blogger.” Ten or so years ago, moms created blogs to express themselves or connect with other moms. They were excited about the occasional free product that arrived on their doorstep and eager to share their opinion of it with the world. While many bloggers still welcome the now steady stream of samples, the most influential moms see themselves as professionals who should be paid for voicing their opinions about a brand. “Sponsorships” and “ambassadorships” abound within this media category.

Women of all stages of life, meanwhile, dominate Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. According to a recent USA Today Touchpoints analysis, 44 percent of moms visit social media sites on an average week. Almost all of the moms we work with will post on one or more of these social networks, as well as on their blogs. With moms, the need for companies to have an engaging social media presence is a given.

Meanwhile, moms have gone mobile—organizing their lives and their families by smartphone or portable tablet. They use their devices for a multitude of purposes, from keeping their kids entertained to organizing the whole family’s activities to shopping. And they love apps, especially apps for their children. In a 2011 study by BabyCenter, 52 percent of moms said they had 10 or more apps on their phone and one-quarter of them were for their kids. Clearly, brands have to pay attention to their mobile presence.

Moms have changed in other ways as well. They are less likely to be married — about 40 percent of all children are now born to single mothers. And 37.6 percent of working wives earned more than their husbands last year, a jump of 30.7 percent from a decade ago. Moms manage their families’ lives – and bring that expertise to managing businesses. They still change diapers—but as supporters of causes or as Secretary of State, they sometimes change the world.

The lessons learned: Moms are always on the move, whether that means trading in one form of communication for another, making major purchases via their mobile device or deciding the fate of countries. They expect—demand!—that brands recognize and respond to them. They know they have power to make important buying decisions, influence other moms and impact what brands do and how they do it—and, having tasted that power, are not going to give it up.

The post Marketing to Moms: 25 Years Later appeared first on Child's Play Communications.

In this ever-evolving digital world, old-fashioned manners sometimes seem to be a thing of the past. There are also more opinions than ever about what constitutes manners in the digital age.

For instance, in a recent column in The New York Times, Nick Bilton suggested that leaving a voicemail or sending a text message saying “thank you” is just plain rude and a waste of time. Bilton also thinks it’s rude for people to ask questions that can be easily answered by Googling.

The New York Times was bombarded by angry letters from people who were appalled by what they saw as Bilton’s lack of manners, especially by his confession that he primarily communicates with his parents via Twitter. Also, aren’t there times when a voicemail is more appropriate than a text?

Clearly, what’s rude to some people makes perfect sense for others. Luckily, there is a new brand of “netiquette” experts who weigh in on thorny issues such as how to juggle multiple online chats, whether to use emoticons in business e-mails, and how many retweets is too many.

“Many of these emerging etiquette issues are complicated because there are no clear-cut, black-and-white answers,” Randi Zuckerberg, the former Facebook executive, told The New York Times.

Personally, I think it’s always better to err on the side of manners – and saying “thank you” is never a waste of time.

What do you think? Are you bothered by other people’s lack of digital manners?

The post Mind Your Digital Manners appeared first on Child's Play Communications.

Okay, those examples might be a little too extreme, but the point is that it’s likely that you shared something good, according to researchers who study social media sharing.

The report, which analyzed The New York Times “most e-mailed list” for six months, found that positive articles were more likely to be shared than negative ones.

But, of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean that people are more likely to read positive stories, just that they are more likely to share them.

“When you share a story with your friends and peers…you don’t want them to think of you as a Debbie Downer,” social psychologist Jonah Berger told The New York Times.

So what makes people share social content? People are more likely to share articles that are exciting or funny than ones that were depressing, said Berger.

Certainly, the findings are relevant to social media marketing. When you want consumers to share news about your product, you want them to feel good about it.

What’s the last story you shared? Tell us below.

The post Social Content: What Makes People Share appeared first on Child's Play Communications.

Today’s dads are a far cry from that notion of the hapless dad.

“There’s a strong community of engaged dads that are no longer bashful or embarrassed by taking on domestic roles,” Robert Duffer, editor of the dads and families section of the web site Good Men Project, told The New York Times. “Times have changed.”

Due to economic factors and sociological factors, there are more stay-at-home dads now than ever before (that said, they’re still a very small segment). Last year, the Census Bureau counted only 189,000 at-home fathers, but that’s up 78% from a decade ago. Still, men only comprise 3.6% of all stay-at-home parents.

But it’s not just at-home dads who are more involved with child-rearing.  Gen X and Gen Y dads are much more hands-on than previous generations of fathers. As a result, marketers are realizing that men are making more purchasing decisions when it comes to baby products. Companies are now marketing to this “new” demographic.

Dove Men + Care recently commissioned research, in conjunction with the Center for Work and Family at Boston College, about fathers’ roles at home, at work, and at play.

It’s not surprising that Dove is now targeting dads in ads that emphasize their family involvement.

Personally, I enjoy the new Subaru commercial, in which a dad, after dropping off his anxious young daughter at the school bus the first day of school, follows alongside the bus.

Since men don’t want to look like moms and carry flowery diaper bags, new lines of male-oriented gear have recently been introduce to appeal to dads.

Diaper Dude of Los Angeles recently announced a licensing agreement with Major League Baseball Properties to sell diaper bags, baby bottle holders and pacifier pouches bearing team and ballpark marks and mascots, the company said in a news release.

“Diaper Dude was born from the idea that men don’t have to lose who they are when they become a dad,” founder Chris Pegula said in the release, touting the company’s “hip gear for cool dads.”

Although we are known for our expertise in reaching moms, Child’s Play also has a “dad” component.  Years ago—when we first started noticing the increased role of fathers in parenting — we introduced our Digital Dads program, a way to reach fathers on line. We’ve also hosted special events, such as Dads at Play.

In order to appeal to this once untapped market, marketers are finally acknowledging that men are parents too.

The post Marketing to a New Generation of Dads appeared first on Child's Play Communications.

On the one hand, it’s great that these companies are breaking the stereotype that girls don’t like to build or play-fight. On the other hand, they continue to reinforce stereotypes by making separate lines just for girls, rather than marketing the standard product line to both genders.

The Friends line has been a huge success. Until its introduction, boys accounted for 90% of Lego’s sales, but that’s no longer the case, according to MarketWatch.

Girls now account for 25% of purchases, boosting Lego’s overall sales by 25% last year, to $4.2 billion, according to results released last month.

In celebration of the 50^th anniversary of the classic Easy-Bake Oven, Hasbro introduced a more masculine model (in silver, blue and black) intended to appeal to little boys.

“There has always been this artificial gender distinction when it comes to play, but now it’s falling away as we learn more about the advantages of different toys,” Maureen O’Brien, a development psychologist who consulted with Mattel on its Mega Bloks set, told CNN.

Although parents are making more of an effort to encourage children of either gender to play with a wide variety of toys, stereotypes don’t fade away quickly.

O’Brien suggested that this is a “transitional phase” and that “once parents realize their kids like the toys, the toys will likely get more gender neutral.”

What do you think? Do girls and boys need separately marketed toys? Will gender neutral toys become more popular? Share your thoughts below!

The post The Gender Divide in the Toy Aisle appeared first on Child's Play Communications.