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World Moms Network

Connecting mothers; empowering women around the globe.

April 3, 2015

CALIFORNIA, USA: New Writer Interview with To-Wen Tseng

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Where in the world do you live? And, are you from there?

I currently reside in San Diego, CA, USA. I am originally from Taipei, TAIWAN.

What language(s) do you speak?

Mandarin Chinese, English, and Japanese.

When did you first become a mother?

I first became a mother in 2013 at the age of 33.

Are you a stay-at-home mom or do you work?

I’m a work-from-home mom.

Why do you blog/write?

I am a writer and I write for a living. I started to blog back in 2009 when a publisher in Taiwan invited me to. My blog then titled “The World According to To-wen” was all about my experience as a criminal/disaster reporter. It made the final list of 2011 Global Chinese-language blog awards; later became a book which was sold more than 80,000 copies in China and Taiwan.

But things changed four years later when I became a mother. When returned to my previous newsroom after giving birth, I got a rude awakening which inspired me to advocate for women and children’s rights. I changed my blog title to “I’d rather be breastfeeding” and started to blog about my message to other mothers (or fathers) who share my values.

What makes you unique as a mother?

Every mother is unique, or no mother is unique. I am no exception. Mothers believe in different things and compete with one another in many different ways. But no matter what we believe, we love our children. I love my child just like other mothers do. I am not particularly unique.

What do you view as the challenges of raising a child in today’s world?

There are many and I consider temptation the biggest one. My son is barely two years old and I’m working hard to teach him to resist candy. Surely our culture is strutted with candy and other junk foods. Every so often, I feel that I’m fighting against the whole world just to protect my child from junk foods.

And I imagine as he grows up, there will be other temptations: TV, pornography, drugs, unsafe sex…the list goes on and on. Since I cannot be a food police or Internet police around him 24/7, I need to raise him as a person with integrity and strong will power to resist these temptations.

Not only children, but parents in today’s world need to learn to deal with temptation. It’s harder for today’s parents to resist the convenience that infant formula, or iPad, or smart phone has to offer. None of us want to be that mother who stares at her iPhone when “playing” with children in the park or the mother who simply gives a fuzzy child an iPad and say “here, just be quiet for a minute!” Unfortunately, sometimes an iPad seems to be the easiest solution.

The challenge of temptation. Definitely a big one.

How did you find World Moms Blog?

I don’t remember. I’ve known about World Moms Blog for a couple of years and was a reader even before I became a mother but never thought of writing for the blog. Maybe I just went across the blog somehow when surfing the internet. I really can’t remember. But I’m definitely thrilled to be part of the team!

This has been an exclusive World Moms Blog interview with our new writer To-wen Tseng.  She can be found writing at her blog “I’d rather be breastfeeding” and on Facebook and Twitter. 

Photo credit to Mu-huan Chiang.

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to the World Moms Blog RSS feed. Thanks for traveling with us around the globe!

World Moms Blog

World Moms Blog is an award winning website which writes from over 30 countries on the topics of motherhood, culture, human rights and social good. Over 70 international contributors share their stories from around the globe, bonded by the common thread of motherhood and wanting a better world for their children. World Moms Blog was listed by Forbes Woman as one of the "Best 100 Websites for Women 2012 & 2013" and also called a "must read" by the NY Times Motherlode in 2013. Our Senior Editor in India, Purnima Ramakrishnan, was awarded the BlogHer International Activist Award in 2013.

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11 Comments
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Comments

  1. Karyn says

    April 3, 2015 at 4:02 am

    Welcome to this wonderful community!

    Reply
    • To-Wen Tseng says

      April 3, 2015 at 7:14 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply
  2. Michelle Pannell says

    April 3, 2015 at 9:40 am

    Welcome to the team To-Wen, great to read a bit about who you are and where you have come from and I look forward to reading your work on here. Mich x (UK)

    Reply
    • To-Wen Tseng says

      April 3, 2015 at 7:14 pm

      Thank you. I’m excited to be here.

      Reply
  3. Jennifer Burden says

    April 4, 2015 at 8:17 am

    Welcome to World Moms Blog, To-Wen! We are excited to have you on our team!

    Jen 🙂

    Reply
    • To-Wen Tseng says

      April 10, 2015 at 12:05 pm

      😀

      Reply
  4. Ann Marie Wraight says

    April 6, 2015 at 2:37 pm

    Hi To-Wen and welcome to the blog from Greece!
    ☺

    Reply
    • To-Wen Tseng says

      April 10, 2015 at 12:16 pm

      Wow, Greece! I did a story about Greece back in 2011. It’s a beautiful country.

      Reply
  5. Nadege Nicoll says

    April 8, 2015 at 9:42 pm

    Welcome To-Wen. Looking forward to your posts. Nadege (from New Jersey)

    Reply
    • To-Wen Tseng says

      April 10, 2015 at 12:07 pm

      Thanks. Looking forward to it, too.

      Reply

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  1. CALIFORNIA, USA: An Ordinary Mother - World Moms BlogWorld Moms Blog says:
    May 22, 2015 at 5:14 am

    […] writer interview with World Moms Blog asked what made me unique as a […]

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