The twin birth rate rose by more than 2% a year, on average, from 1980 through 2004, leveling off briefly that year to less than 1% annually then rising nearly 2% again from 2008 to 2009.

In 2009, twin rates increased in all 50 states, with the most significant jumps in lower New England, New Jersey and Hawaii. In Connecticut, twins now account for nearly 5% of births.

Nationally, 3.3% of all births were twins in 2009, up from 2% in 1980.

The greatest increase in twin rates was for women 40 and older. They are more likely to use fertility treatments and to have two embryos implanted during in vitro fertilization, whereas younger women are more likely to get just one.

About 7% of all births for women 40 and older were twins, compared to 5% of women in their late 30s and 2% of women age 24 or younger.

Rates doubled for whites, rose by half for blacks and by about a third for Hispanics. Historically, black moms have twins most often, but white moms have almost caught up.

Are you a mom of twins? In what way has that influenced your purchasing decisions? Marketers, are any of you focusing on this growing market?

Do you agree that incessant chatter about kids is annoying or should Ms. Skurnick lighten up? And do you ever brattle about your own kids?

Now I’d like to talk about what bloggers can and should do to position themselves for those opportunities. In fact, that was the topic of a panel presentation I participated in at last week’s BlogHer, called  “Minding Your Own Business: Bad Blogger Pitches (The Other Side of the PR-Blogger Relationship).”

The most important thing a blogger must do to be taken seriously by a brand is: be professional.

In an effort to best illustrate what agencies and brands consider professional, I’d like to share 5 examples of what is NOT:

1. Complaining in social media about PR people. I mean, REALLY. Fact is, you never know where we may wind up — one day a lowly publicist at an agency, the next head of PR at a company you’d kill to work with. We’re your gateway to opportunities. Don’t slam the door.
2.  Grousing about 1) not being asked to review a specific product 2) not being invited to an event 3) everything. Do the math. There are thousands of mom bloggers out there. We can’t send you all products and we can’t invite you to every event, unless they all take place at Madison Square Garden.
3. Opting in to review a product and then not reviewing it. And not bothering to tell us you’re not going to review it. Or why. Or not returning our email or call when we ask, politely, for feedback. Or reviewing it in March when it was sent to you for Christmas. And is no longer on the market. Making your post worthless.
4. Posting a review and getting all the facts wrong. Minor points such as the spelling of the client’s name, the price or the link.
5. RSVPing to an event and then not showing up, with no notice beforehand or apology afterward. Which is even worse than cancelling the night before, after all the arrangements have been made, and all those extra meals, products, massages, etc., have already been paid for, in advance, as you would for a wedding. Dropping out is not only unprofessional, but just plain rude.

To the professionals out there — you know who you are.  Keep it up–we love you and will bend over backward to find great opportunities for you. To the rest, my best advice is: Follow their lead.

So how was this, my third BlogHer in a row (not counting BlogHer Business and local meetings) different from those in the past? For one, I had the wonderful opportunity to speak on a panel, called Bad Blogger Pitches (The Other Side of the PR-Blogger Relationship). More on that in a future post. In addition, based on the subject of my panel and some similar ones, there seemed to be more of a focus on professionalism — helping bloggers to realize that if they want to go beyond blogging for pleasure, if they want to turn their blogs into a profitable business, they need to understand what brands expect in return. Brands themselves, meanwhile, showed more thoughfulness in their approach to bloggers. Whether that meant offering the chance to settle back in a cozy room and cook up S’mores with Hershey or relax in a spa-like setting with HTC, some companies focused mo

Which brings me to one of my favorite questions: Do moms socialize in real life more as a result of social media, or less?

There’s no doubt that overall socialization, in the broader sense of the term, has improved as a result of social media. A University of Texas, Austin, survey of 900 current and recent college graduates concluded that Facebook provides opportunities for friendship, intimacy and community and in general causes us to be more social.

 But does networking on line make moms more social off line?

One dad — my husband, bless him — was a late convert to social media. His sole connection: Facebook. He started with it to “get up to speed” for work. And now… He spends a lot of his time not only catching up via Facebook but also meeting some of those folks he’s connected with– high school classmates or former work buddies – over lunch. I’d say that, for him, social media has created additional real life sociability.

I, on the other hand, definitely communicate online more regularly with people outside of my day-to-day circle, but don’t necessarily see them in person. While there is only so much time in the day to do anything – work, sleep, eat, take care of the kids – I wonder if that online time could be better spent over dinner or drinks either with those social media friends or others.

Blogging began as a way for women to connect with others virtually – then grew to conference after conference designed to bring them together in real life.

There are even new apps out there designed to take us away from the screens and into more “live” sociability. One called Sonar is said to link with your Facebook, Twitter, and/or Four Square account and send you alerts when you have a friend nearby. The idea behind the app, according to the founder, is to create a personal interaction and perhaps a friendship.

 Sherry Turkle, author of Alone Together, has a skeptical view of the Internet’s impact on real sociability. She believes that technology is dominating our lives to the point that it is causing us to become less human and providing us with a false sense of the real world.

 Moms, what is your take on social media? Does it make you more social in the real sense of the word – or less?

Marketers, what programs do you have to help bring friends together, live and in-person?

But is it all too much? Awhile ago I read an article that wondered if parents overdid it on the family “art collection.” Some experts feel that children delight most in the process of art, rather than in the final product – reducing the need to keep their daily masterpieces to avoid damaging their tender egos. Meanwhile, alternatives such as photographing and scanning your pint-size Picasso’s works provide space-saving options. Some families share the lessons of recycling – there’s nothing like drawing on both sides of the paper to reduce the pile. And some take those early signs of artistic talent and…sneak them into the trash when the kids aren’t looking.

Moms, do you save all of your children’s art—or are you a ruthless editor? How do you choose what stays and what goes?  And if you do save it, how?

Marketers, have you got some great new ways for moms to save and display the results of their children’s creativity? Feel free to share them here.

While teachers have historically been the target for a child’s lack of success at school, there is a new movement to put the blame squarely on parents – by even, in some cases, imposing fines.

The logic behind these moves is this: The most successful schools have the most involved parents. As one of those very involved parents myself, I’d say that’s a premise with which it is hard to disagree.  The more a parent is involved in motivating a child to do his homework, show up to school,  get there on time and so on, the better. Yet others maintain that responsibility for these actions belongs to the child, not the parent.

In any case, several states have or are proposing legislation designed to force parents to focus more on their child’s education. Some examples:

• Alaska: Existing legislation fines parents for a child’s truancy.
• California: Extensive truancy by a child can bring a misdemeanor charge against a parent.
• Indiana:  To promote parent-teacher interaction, one legislator introduced a bill requiring parents to spend a few hours each semester volunteering either in the school building or at a school-related function.
• Florida:  Currently pending is a requirement to grade parents on their involvement in their child’s education and to post that grade on the child’s report card.

Moms, what do you think? To whom does responsibility for your child’s success in school fall? And what measures should be taken to assure that responsibility is fulfilled?

Some folks feel that being called grandma or grandpa is the equivaelnt of being labeled old — and old is not how many of today’s active grandparents feel.

This seems to be especially true in the celebrity world. According to a recent New York Times article, actress Goldie Hawn, a grandmother herself, referred to the term as having “so many connotations of old age and decrepitude.” Actress Blythe Danner, Gwyneth Paltrow’s mother, wanted her grandchildren to call her “Woof.” Paltrow says, “My mom’s hot and she didnt want to be called Grandma.”

A celebrity-worthy new term — GlamMa — now appears in UrbanDictionary.com, defined as a “woman with a sense of self and style.” Sources such as Grandparents.com offer other modern alternatives from which to choose.

Although I’ve got, in theory,  a long way to go, I have no idea how I’ll react when the time comes for me to assume a name to go along with the grandparenting role. I also can’t imagine what new term would have the same special meaning as the traditional one. Although GlamMa does have its appeal…

Has the “g” word been an issue with your parents? What do your children call them?

• Moms are 19% more likely than the general population to engage in social networking
• They are also more likely to become a fan or follow a brand (31% more likely), become a fan or follow a celebrity (24% more likely) and comment on others’ postings (27% more likely than the general population).

Furthermore, moms are responsible for a quarter of all video streams on social networks, and are also more likely to post their own content:

• 37% more likely to post photos
• 25% more likely to link articles/videos
• 33% more likely to give status updates

Talk about owning a space!

The study is an intriguing one. For more details click here.

Some colleges are addressing this ongoing epidemic of incivility by introducing classes on the subject. One I found most interesting was the elective offered at George Mason University called “Professionalism and Civility.” According to the university’s Web site, this one-credit course teaches students how to manage their “professional image, conduct at work, telephone, written, oral, and electronic etiquette, table manners, and social networking with an emphasis on the cultural needs for honoring commitments and obligations.” (http://cehd.gmu.edu/courses/courseinfo/?id=1898).

Not a bad idea. Of course, as great as this elective sounds, I can’t help but wonder if the students who actually need this course would sign up for it.

Tip to marketers: There’s probably an entire industry that could be developed around teaching appropriate behavior for young people.

Yet, shouldn’t children be educated on the proper way to behave among their peers well before the college years — by their parents? Today, high school, middle school and even grade school incivility–better known at those stages as bullying–is almost a given. Are these the same children who never learned to share a toy on the playground or who hit and punched when they didn’t get their way? This leads to the questions: Moms, in your experience, how widespread is this kind of behavior among young children? Have your youngsters been the perpetrators or recipients of this rude and unkind behavior? What’s the solution?