But I don’t want my blog to become a mommy blog!
That was my cry. I said I wanted to maintain relatability. I wanted to make sure twenty-something single guys felt like they could read my stuff without stooping to some level they’d be ashamed of. I didn’t want my single or childless friends to think motherhood had completely consumed me.
Motherhood has not completely consumed me but it has certainly changed me. To ignore that is just plain silly. Motherhood has changed me just like every other new responsibility has changed me (although motherhood has done it in far greater strides.) Every new responsibility gives us new perspective. New perspective refines our goals, our priorities, and our virtues. The perspective of motherhood is inextricably linked with my own progression through the degrees in idealism. To try to downplay that or hide from it is an insult to motherhood and to the relationship I have with my children. Moreover, when I conceal part of who I am to try to maintain readership I’m not fully able to say everything I need to say.
So, I’m not changing the content of this blog entirely. I will still write on all of the things I’ve written on before in the same format. It won’t become a journal style daily update and it won’t all be about babies. (I mean no criticism to such blogs. I read them and draw inspriation from them! It’s just a different format.) I will still have a lot to say about cultural trends and about the “problems of the world.” But I might also write about which toys we buy and why and I might review children’s movies. For so long I thought writing about such things made me look trivial. And yet, I find myself reading about such things because I know they’re not trivial. Not one bit. If you are an idealist, everything matters. How you do and think about everything matters.
And the reality is, the toys we buy and the content of children’s movies is a direct reflection (and cause) of the “problems of the world.” As every person knows, parent or not, nothing influences us, for better or for worse, as dramatically as does the home we grew up in. Homemaking is more than just preferences and hobbies. Homemaking demands idealism. And so homemaking has every right to be a part of my blog.
So will this be a mommy blog? I wouldn’t call it that, simply because motherhood is not my only perspective and it’s not the only thing I will be writing about (not to mention the term sounds a bit patronizing!) But I think I need to get over the fear of being associated with it. Mommy blogs get a lot of hate. Certainly, not all of their content will always be good— but that is true for all types of blogs. All types of blogs can become avenues for the many vices of modernity and social media. I think the reason mommy blogs get hate on principle is because they represent what many people like to think of as an oxymoron. In other words, if you spend your hours dealing with diapers and Goodnight Moon, are you really cut out for writing? And if you’re cut out for writing, why spend your hours on diapers and Goodnight Moon? And sometimes when I’m rocking and singing and rocking and singing I think, for a moment, about “all the many ways I could CHANGE THE WORLD” if only I wasn’t rocking and singing. But mommy blogs have reminded me, time and time again, that I am changing the world. It’s a small world, but it’s a whole world. And it’s a world filled with inspiration and light and truth. It’s a world worth writing about.
Undeniably maternal with one baby on the inside and one baby on the outside!
Elizabeth, this is lovely, and you will “never” do any more important “work” than raising your children in a home filled with love, idealism, and good values. But keep writing, you’re good at that too!
Thank you, Brenda! Very true about there never being more important work!
Looking forward to future posts of all topics! 🙂
But I don’t want my blog to become a mommy blog!
That was my cry. I said I wanted to maintain relatability. I wanted to make sure twenty-something single guys felt like they could read my stuff without stooping to some level they’d be ashamed of. I didn’t want my single or childless friends to think motherhood had completely consumed me.
Motherhood has not completely consumed me but it has certainly changed me. To ignore that is just plain silly. Motherhood has changed me just like every other new responsibility has changed me (although motherhood has done it in far greater strides.) Every new responsibility gives us new perspective. New perspective refines our goals, our priorities, and our virtues. The perspective of motherhood is inextricably linked with my own progression through the degrees in idealism. To try to downplay that or hide from it is an insult to motherhood and to the relationship I have with my children. Moreover, when I conceal part of who I am to try to maintain readership I’m not fully able to say everything I need to say.
So, I’m not changing the content of this blog entirely. I will still write on all of the things I’ve written on before in the same format. It won’t become a journal style daily update and it won’t all be about babies. (I mean no criticism to such blogs. I read them and draw inspriation from them! It’s just a different format.) I will still have a lot to say about cultural trends and about the “problems of the world.” But I might also write about which toys we buy and why and I might review children’s movies. For so long I thought writing about such things made me look trivial. And yet, I find myself reading about such things because I know they’re not trivial. Not one bit. If you are an idealist, everything matters. How you do and think about everything matters.
And the reality is, the toys we buy and the content of children’s movies is a direct reflection (and cause) o
f the “problems of the world.” As every person knows, parent or not, nothing influences us, for better or for worse, as dramatically as does the home we grew up in. Homemaking is more than just preferences and hobbies. Homemaking demands idealism. And so homemaking has every right to be a part of my blog.
So will this be a mommy blog? I wouldn’t call it that, simply because motherhood is not my only perspective and it’s not the only thing I will be writing about (not to mention the term sounds a bit patronizing!) But I think I need to get over the fear of being associated with it. Mommy blogs get a lot of hate. Certainly, not all of their content will always be good— but that is true for all types of blogs. All types of blogs can become avenues for the many vices of modernity and social media. I think the reason mommy blogs get hate on principle is because they represent what many people like to think of as an oxymoron. In other words, if you spend your hours dealing with diapers and Goodnight Moon, are you really cut out for writing? And if you’re cut out for writing, why spend your hours on diapers and Goodnight Moon? And sometimes when I’m rocking and singing and rocking and singing I think, for a moment, about “all the many ways I could CHANGE THE WORLD” if only I wasn’t rocking and singing. But mommy blogs have reminded me, time and time again, that I am changing the world. It’s a small world, but it’s a whole world. And it’s a world filled with inspiration and light and truth. It’s a world worth writing about.
Undeniably maternal with one baby on the inside and one baby on the outside!
Elizabeth, this is lovely, and you will “never” do any more important “work” than raising your children in a home filled with love, idealism, and good values. But keep writing, you’re good at that too!
Thank you, Brenda! Very true about there never being more important work!
Looking forward to future posts of all topics! 🙂