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It's a way for stay-at-home parents to make a little money, and connect with others, much like City-Data. So, I read what I want, and ignore anything that doesn't interest me. I certainly don't spend time thinking about the motives behind them.
I am one of those who gave reps for that! I hate blogger moms because they always seem to be patting themselves on the back for being such wonderful parents. They love to congratulate themselves on being so much better than everyone else because they: home-schooled their kids/sent their kids to public school/didn't send their kids to public school/only feed healthy food/let their kids eat junk food/micromanage every aspect of their kids' lives/let their kids do whatever they want/breastfed their baby/didn't breastfeed their baby/or whatever other decision they made, but it's always the "right" decision.
Thing is, it's all just justification - they have no idea if these are right decisions or not. They are seldom basing their blogs on scientific evidence - it's usually just their opinion. And then I get really upset when some blogger mom gets a book deal out of her blog posts and ends up going around the country giving talks about how great it is to do whatever she did and how everyone should do it. When I was a public school teacher the district actually paid to have one of these blogger moms come in - not only didn't she have any background in education or child development, but she'd been a struggling journalist looking for work-at-home jobs when her blog landed her a book deal. And voila, she's now branding herself as an expert on kids, and people are buying into it.
So I shared on another post how bugged I am by "blogging moms" and got more rep points then I ever imagined. So I thought I would write about why I dislike the blog-pintrest-Facebook face phenomenon.
So beyond the obvious...most blogging moms are bragging, attention seeking, etc (not all, there are some useful, honest blogs out there), I feel like, with the addition of social media, mom's these days are being fed a steady diet of "perfect mom" junk food. You see these facebook faces, pintrest boards and especially blogs and are constantly showing how perfect they are. Beautiful crafts, perfectly packed lunches, sparkling clean kitchens, carefully quaffed children are slammed in your face every time you turn on your computer, chat with other moms are drop off ("Oh yes, well we do the 100 days of real food diet", "Oh I didn't like all the fat, we are following Raw Momma" etc). Its easy to internalize as you swivel your chair around and see the reality of your own life. Kids are fighting, the kitchen was clean 10 minutes ago but now looks like a bomb exploded in there, your craft supplies cluttering up a corner from all the intended crafts...and no way will your kid's lunch's contain any fancy decorations, they are lucky there is food in there. And don't forget all the "Mom knows best stories" out there when half the time you are stumbling for words.
This all hit me really hard as I was trying to reach that ideal of perfection in my own life, and failing. Over and over. And suddenly I realized...I am not perfect, but neither are these women out there pretending to be. No one is, and no one lives behind the screen of the blogger. I've been opting out.
I opted out so far as to close my business that played into the "perfect mom, perfect family...if we can fake it for a few seconds to post it online" culture. I couldn't fake it myself, I wasn't going to help others fake either. It was a real crisis of conscious. Especially considering that is how I made my money, and I was good at it!
I don't know if this is a major issue across most communities. I live in a major city, in an upper-middle neighborhood where most moms are SAHMs or work part time only. I have a feeling it may be less hard hitting in smaller towns, or places where mom's have way more to do then follow that stuff.
Anyways...thats my beef with blogs...I could go on and on about it. Maybe I should start a blog about it.
Do you like them, hate em, ignore them? What are your thoughts?
Ignore them. They are attention seeking braggarts.
No one's life is that interesting to me. Not a reality show fan either.
I am one of those who gave reps for that! I hate blogger moms because they always seem to be patting themselves on the back for being such wonderful parents. They love to congratulate themselves on being so much better than everyone else because they: home-schooled their kids/sent their kids to public school/didn't send their kids to public school/only feed healthy food/let their kids eat junk food/micromanage every aspect of their kids' lives/let their kids do whatever they want/breastfed their baby/didn't breastfeed their baby/or whatever other decision they made, but it's always the "right" decision.
Thing is, it's all just justification - they have no idea if these are right decisions or not. They are seldom basing their blogs on scientific evidence - it's usually just their opinion. And then I get really upset when some blogger mom gets a book deal out of her blog posts and ends up going around the country giving talks about how great it is to do whatever she did and how everyone should do it. When I was a public school teacher the district actually paid to have one of these blogger moms come in - not only didn't she have any background in education or child development, but she'd been a struggling journalist looking for work-at-home jobs when her blog landed her a book deal. And voila, she's now branding herself as an expert on kids, and people are buying into it.
Yes, this! See, its cool it annoys me and I could turn off the comp...but I bought in for a while. Lots of people do. There is one about food and the lady, also a mom and writer, isn't a nutritionist! Not even close. Books, tv deals, etc.
I am with you...the worst one that comes to mind is that woman who fit her whole family's years worth of trash into a quart Mason jar.... Recycle.. Reuse etc...She never bought brown bags but her sons carried their lunches to school in towels....She bought a new computer and bragged about taking it out of the box and leaving the wrapper and box and white styrofoam at the store...I remember there was a small sticker from a piece of fruit in there which I thought was ridiculous because she could have put that on a piece of cardboard or paper in her recycle bin..I guess it was for show....so they ate one piece of fruit all year? Just kind of obnoxious...
is this the fruit-loop family that dries out and re-uses toilet paper???
I don't mind them at all. Though I don't read any mom blogs regularly, I'll read posts once in a while, usually on a subject that interests me, and a lot of these women are great, engaging writers and their posts are either funny, self-deprecating, or sweet and uplifting. But then again I'm not reading any cheerleader go-go-go types who are all about raw diets and composting and running marathons, because that's not me and I've got zero interest in these topics. I like the ones that just blog about life, their thoughts and reflections, or important topics and opinions. In terms of the 'perfect' ones I do enjoy the Pinterest-y crafts, decor, fashion, cooking blogs, especially ones that have beautiful photography and great ideas. I get inspiration and creative ideas, recipes, etc from them, but I also just enjoy looking at their pretty lives, that I know are just for camera. Really, it's like flipping through a magazine and enjoying the pretty pictures, vicarious escapism. I can admire the effort they put it and the things they accomplish even though it may be unrealistic for me or my life. It's just fun. Some of these women do manage to accomplish an awful lot, and tbh I would love to be them if I had the energy and drive - but honestly I don't, and that's okay. I don't take it personally
For the record, real-life women who are smug and sanctimonious and brag about their perfect lives annoy me to no end. But that's only because I hate that type of personality. A mom who does all the same things but does not preach it and is down-to-earth and humble is nothing but admirable to me.
Never got into mommy blogs. I never really got into blogs of any sort. Like reality tv, I've never found any one person interesting enough to follow their life. There is a lot of info online so sometimes when I research a subject I will read blog posts about it from various people but that's about it.
I can see how keeping a blog could be useful for anyone...stay at home parents need an outlet to vent and share ideas just like anyone else.
I just think how social media and even mainstream news glorifies basic parenting these days has just made it very over-the-top and annoying. "Oh wow, this person made a good decision as a parent. Let's do a news story on it and make sure it spreads all over Facebook and Twitter!" I hope the fad dies very soon.
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