More from Moms Rising…

MomsRising wants you to share your story about the challenges of raising children in our country….

My daughter still remembers her favorite Halloween costume at age six–purple balloons pinned all over her body to make her look like a bunch of grapes. That was the first year she wasn’t afraid of the Halloween hoopla.

She’s in high school now, and pulls together her own costumes. But since the season of ghosts and goblins has come around again, I started thinking about what’s really scary for Moms in America–scary all year long because of the daily parenting hardships and dangers that are very real and haunt us. What is it about our country’s treatment of families that can make it scary to raise a child?

Help MomsRising.org collect real life stories for our MomsVote 08 campaign about how scary it is to raise a child without adequate family-friendly policies. We’ve found that sharing true stories about the hurdles we face with parenting–from overly expensive healthcare and childcare, to a lack of time with children when they are born or sick–bring the issues to life better than any fact sheet could. Reporters frequently ask for personal stories that exemplify the issues for which MomsRising is advocating. Legislators who are advancing bills to help families often use our stories to center the policy debates on the lives of real people.

Do you have a scary story to share about the hurdles you’ve faced raising children? Please share your story on our blog at http://www.momsrising.org/node/593