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Giveaway: iPad Mini and myCharge Hub 6000

Bragging about your parenting skills is not allowed in today’s world. No one wants to hear about how your child is hitting her milestones early because you introduced reading and classical music while she was still in the womb. Or how your son is perfectly behaved in restaurants because you fed him homemade baby food instead of crap from a jar, giving him a finer appreciation of real food.

You know what happens when you say such things in public?

People nod their heads while secretly thinking— If you want to think good parenting is responsible for your early-talking toddler with the undiscerning palette, that’s fine. We just won’t be friends.

Most people know that nobody wants to hear about their perfect kids, so they either keep things to themselves or more often, they let their parenting feats spill out in the form of “humble brags”. You know those self-deprecating status updates on facebook that are actually thinly veiled ways to pat one’s own self on the back?

I keep trying to get my seven-year-old to go outside and play, but he just wants to read and read and read. What can I say? The kid loves his chapter books!

A friend gave my kids store bought pop tarts and they refused to touch them! It was so rude! I guess they are used to the whole wheat ones I make at home with strawberry jam from the farmer’s market. LOL.

I am so nervous about dropping Atticus off at his first day of preschool. After all the stuff we’ve taught him at home, I hope he’s not bored!

You get the idea. Somehow it’s more obnoxious when moms are trying to pretend the shout-out to themselves isn’t there.

But that doesn’t mean we aren’t allowed to be proud of our finer moments! Especially when we self-identify as an imperfect parent and our bragging opportunities aren’t as readily apparent.

Today, I want to give every mom permission to brag about her parenting skills. Not a humble brag. A FULL OUT BRAG. Don’t disguise it with the genius of your child. Make your brag all about yourself! Don’t stick an LOL or a winking emoji at the end. OWN IT!

But I’m not good at anything…

Don’t sell yourself short! Every mom is good at something. For instance, I might suck at cooking, cleaning, crafting and making sure my children brush their teeth before they walk out the door, but…

I AM AWESOME AT HAIR BRAIDING.

Ah, that felt good. I’ve been wanting to say that for awhile.

I can braid Mazzy’s hair like nobody’s business. It’s a skill I taught myself in sleep-away camp when I was thirteen and I could not be happier than to have a long-haired daughter on which to show-off my god-given talent.

Elsa’s hair? Yep, I can do it.

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Anna’s hair? Yep. I can do that too.

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How else do you think Mazzy beat all the other Annas roaming the streets for Halloween? Her hair was ON POINT.

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I also did Mazzy’s hair myself both times she was asked to be a flower girl.

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For the most recent wedding, I had her look at a Pinterest board of braiding styles, pick the photo she liked the best and then I was able to replicate it for the big day.

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Did I practice a few days before hand? Nope! I didn’t even need to! I am THAT confident in my skillz.

Here’s what I did to her hair for picture day at school yesterday:

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Here’s what I did for her birthday party last year:

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Here’s what I did for no occasion whatsoever:

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I officially award myself the “Best Mom at Hair Braiding Award”!

(Yes, I know, I know, you can find many moms who are way better at braiding on Pinterest, but Pinterest is a make-believe place and I don’t think these moms actually exist in real life.)

Want to win your own award? Nominate yourself! You could win fabulous prizes!

Today, I’m partnering with myCharge to launch the “Moms in Charge Awards” which is your excuse to brag freely about your parenting abilities. Even if that ability is licking your kid’s ice cream cone so it doesn’t drip. (I’m really good at that too, by the way.) Are you the best at lunchbox notes? The best bedtime storyteller? The mom who always has the best snacks at school pick-up? Perhaps you have a story about the time you microwaved a hot dog preventing your picky eater from starving.

No feat is too large or too small for this contest.

Post your mom skill in the comments or upload photo proof to facebook or instagram and you could win a MyCharge Hub 6000 plus an iPad Mini with a case.

Yes, that’s right. AN iPAD MINI.

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What’s a myCharge Hub 6000? Funny you should ask! It’s a portable charger with built-in cables and connectors for smartphones, tablets, e-readers or whatever device your little rugrat is choosing to drain the battery out of that day. You can get up to 27 hours of additional talk time, as well as integrated, quick-charge wall prongs. That’s why myCharge refers to it as their “Swiss Army Knife of portable power devices”.

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You don’t need me to explain an iPad mini, do you?

I will also give ten runner-ups a myCharge hot pink Razor Plus. The Razor Plus is super light, ultra-thin and delivers 13 hours of additional talk time for your smartphone. So you can let your kid play Candy Crush on your phone all through dinner at the diner and still be able to call Grandma on the way home.

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I’ll be picking my favorite entries (both written and photo entries) and then judges (to be determined) will pick the winners. I might get other mom bloggers to be the judges. I might get moms of mom bloggers to be the judges. I might get my own mom to judge. We shall see. Whoever judges, I’m guessing humor and creative answers will come into play.

To enter, you must complete three easy steps:

1) Describe your mom skill in the comments below or post photo proof on the Mommy Shorts Facebook page or on Instagram with the hashtag #momskillz. Your description can as short or as long as you like. Something general or an isolated story of which you are particularly proud. If you enter through Instagram, you must follow and tag both @mommyshorts and @mycharge

2) Share this post in some way— like it on facebook, tweet it, pin it, etc.

3) Sign up for the myCharge newsletter using the email entry form below.

You can read the full rules here.

That’s it.

Good luck giving yourself some credit!

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This post was sponsored by myCharge but all thoughts, opinions, and braiding skillz are my own.