Friday 12 December 2008

What's wrong with being a "Mommy" blogger anyway?

I missed my daily nap today because LQ refused to have her second nap, so I am in a bit of a cranky mood. So, in this cranky mood I read a few different blogs and now I just need to vent.

It seems that in this little sub-culture of blogs, there is a dirty word, that if used to describe your blog, then you are (I am assuming) on one of the lowest rungs of the blogging world. It is - (gasp) - "Mommy Blog".*

The few posts that got me going mentioned that they would "lose" or annoy their readers if they posted something remotely resembling an update on their family life. These ladies are great bloggers and I am sure their extended family appreciate the updates every now and then. But because they have readers other than their own family, they feel like they must give what they think their readers want.

This is where I get confused and extremely ANNOYED.

1st: Isn't a blog generally for the blogger to just say whatever he or she wants to say? It was my understanding that is why blogs came about in the first place. So why should you care what others think? Maybe it is the whole female competition thing again. No one can ever be satisfied with being just themselves.

2nd: Going back to the whole "mommy" blogger thing. These women are mothers. They have families and as such, tend to write about their lives anyway. Their experiences are entrenched with mommyness. So I would say that in essence, they are "mommy" bloggers anyway. It doesn't matter which way you look at it.

I understand that some people start blogs so that their writing can get out there and possibly popular in a non-conventional kind of way. Even so, your writing is your writing and I am sorry to say it, but not EVERYONE is going to like it. Therefore, just write what you want to write.

But PLEASE, don't make me one of the lowest common denominators of blogging just because I like to update my family instead of entertaining a few people who could be completely insane anyway.

*I use the 'o' in mommy instead of 'u' because it doesn't seem to have been used in Australia yet.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

You're right, Hel. My first post said that my blog was not about being a 'young mommy', because that ship sailed on me 15 years ago! But no matter what else I do in my life, my first source of experiences - and thus blogging material - is my family! As your kids get older, it's reeeeeally important to be able to laugh at your life; it helps keep things in healthy perspective. And I ENJOY reading about your little Australian family, strange as that may sound! So keep doing the mommy blog thing; we don't have to be all things to all people.
~DeNae from Las Vegas

Chris said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Chris said...

I love blogging about my family. It's really neat to go back through and remember things that happened because the blog is there to job my memory. I LIKE being a mommy blogger! :)

I blog about other stuff too, but the family stuff means the most to me.

I loved your post.

Cajoh said...

I enjoy hearing about family life. Even though my wife and I no longer have the kids around, it is great to hear all the fun and adventures that go into parenting.

Keep it up.

Stephanie said...

Hi, I hopped over from Melanie's blog and I just have to say an amen to your analysis of mommy bloggers. My blog is half journaling- half cathartic self-expression ... but it's for me and my family and my grandchildren someday, and I just happen to love it when other folks like to read it too. So write on, girlfriend... :)