Mummy Blogging

Not sure I like the name, but having recently emerged from 4 yeas of full time motherhood I’m an outright advocate of mummy blogging. I don’t write one myself but I regularly check into a couple, as written by friends.

Beyond serving the purpose of reaching out to other mums – which lets face it is the only thing that keeps you sane during the long hours of tots, bots, naps and tats (and sane is important when you’re responsible for the future of the planet), they also allow us to keep the grey matter snapping while the world around is reduced to clock watching until its someone else’s turn – a little simplistic I grant you but not far wrong.

So why are they so popular? To give you an idea, last year’s BlogHer conference attracted 22,000 attendees. That would fill the O2 arena! Beyond the ability to blog from home, connect with others and use them to record key events, it is also an important outlet for creativity. The aim is not so much to monetize but moreover to retain some influence, and trust me when you hear yourself permanently negotiating what colour tights, spoon and drinker your kids will use, you can feel your self respect slipping rapidly.

Another important role these ladies play is to give other mums the word on how good, bad or otherwise products and brands are doing at helping us along. Product reviews are prevalent. Beyond what a marketer would have you believe, the opinion of other mums really cuts the mustard when trying to figure out which portable high chair option suits you best.

So who are they? Usually middle class, expressive, community focused women – who really enjoy doing it. What better reason?! Beyond that its a potent outlet to vent frustrations. YeeHaa.

So, mum’s keep on blogging. I’m a fan, and there are millions of us about. It’s also something we can take time out for, and it’s just for us. Net good in deed 🙂

My personal favourite is one written by an old boarding school buddy Jenny. With beautiful grainy photo illustrations and a diary-esque style, quite common with mummy blogs, she has me in stitches while drawing parallels with my own experiences; the ones only I know and just don’t have the ability or time to share with the world. But then that’s the beauty of it. I don’t need to. Jenny does it for me.