Ask Roxanne

Dear Rox and Bob:

I have to start by saying I love your site. Just wondering, though, why  your logo incorporates a stroller when your site advocates the use of   slings? Actually, I was admiring your new, snazzy color logo yesterday  when the contradiction hit me. I guess I noticed because I hate my stroller  so much - as does my daughter. She much prefers the sling (which I bought from you) or the Snugli.

Dear Sara:

We like out new, snazzy colour logo as well. There are actually two issues at work in your very good question -- one is graphic design and practicality, and the other is parenting philosophies and practicality. I'll tackle the easier part first.

When One Hot Mama decided to grow up and get a real logo, one that would define the typical hot mama as well as look great on hats and t-shirts (available in our online store!), we met with a talented graphic designer and talked a lot about our customer's outlook on herself and life. We see One Hot Mama as unique, special, pretty, and spunky -- in other words, like you. One Hot Mama is not frumpy, ordinary, average or basic, and neither are the women who visit our site. Almost every single nursingwear maker and retailer, as well as lactation business owner or breastfeeding promoter, uses the very same logo concept. What is that? A mama with baby at her breast. And although we like to see that as much as the next activist, it's a little tough to make it fresh. Thus, our fabulous logo, which incorporates heat (the sun), one chick (the lady in red with the luscious hips) and the stroller says she's a mama. Ta da!

Now, on to parenting philosophies. We do carry the Over The Shoulder Baby Holder, and we love it. We believe that American children in general would be a whole lot happier if their parents would carry them close to their bodies and snuggle them and and nurse them on demand. We also think that a baby in a stroller is often out of earshot of mommy and daddy and facing the wrong way and not interacting with a human being. That all said, anyone who claims (as some die-hard parenting philosophizers do -- not you, but *other* people) that a stroller itself is evil or a sign of bad parenting is just plain loony, in my opinion. Strollers (like baby swings or bouncy seats or other purely optional purchases) are pieces of equipment in the service of parents. And even though Cameron hasn't spent very much time in one, when he was still a pooping and puking machine (until almost a year old, it seemed), that stroller held his extra clothes and diapers and toys and my purse and extra shirt while he nuzzled contentedly in my sling. And from what I hear from our mamas of more than one, it's a real lifesaver when toting multiple kidlets.

I know you probably only expected (or wanted) a two-line answer, but it is a question we grappled with for a long time. If you know of a new, never-before-seen way to depict a nursing mama on a logo, please let us know! ;-)

Regards, Roxanne and Bob 

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