Mum blogs: Knit me a cupcake, I’ll be back for breakfast*….

Mum blogs; Knit me a cupcake I’ll be back for breakfast…

I’m a bit late to the Liz Jones, mum blogs, Blogfest party thang.

In fact I wasn’t going to write about it at all. I just didn’t want to give The Daily Mail what it was after. More links and more chatter. So in a pathetic attempt to stand up for that I am not linking to it; directly. Just Google it.

However, I didn’t want to remain silent. In all honesty, if you met me, you’d know I just wasn’t able to shut up about it. I’m a bit of an impossible person to shut up. In fact the only person that manages to do that is my daughter. Chip off the old block see.

Liz. Pull up a chair. All I am going to do is tell you my story. I don’t think it’s that unusual. One of the wonderful things about parent blogging is the diversity the community has. I think that Liz Jones may have lost sight of this; in favour of being a tad controversial…

For this mum who blogs…

• I worked as a business analyst for nearly 10 years; I did give it up for the kids. I wanted to. My choice, and a choice I was VERY lucky to be able to make. I tried doing the stay at home mum thing, and I wasn’t terribly good at it. I started my own small business to stay sane, and to develop my amazing, but hidden talents…
• I blog as part of my small business; granted that business is not very old, and it doesn’t earn me anywhere near as much as my last job, but I do have plans. They don’t actually involve taking over the world, and are relatively modest. They will take longer to come about because I am a mum too. But I have kids, so I have oodles of patience…
• I love the community I am now part if; the mums I have met who blog can change a lot of awful stuff that happens to ordinary people. Women are powerful. Liz Jones should know that. Together women can be an unstoppable force for good. I have been moved to tears by some of the things that the blogging community have stuck their weight behind and tried to change. We aren’t perfect, and sometimes we can be guilty of going too far, but most of the time, mum blogs do good, and even great things
• I give parenting advice on the blog; the advice on the blog varies. Some of it is from professionals, some tongue in cheek, and some is from my own experiences; successful or otherwise. It takes a whole village to raise a child. Blogging and the internet is a means of extending that village; gathering more experience and different opinions. Why should that be a bad thing?
• My reward charts business and the Mummys Little Stars blog has come a long way in five short months; we have good stats, and the business is growing, and we haven’t even launched yet. Everything I have achieved, I have done with the help of other parent bloggers and through my own hard graft. My kids love what I have done. They help me, and Chatterbox is even writing my chore charts marketing material for me now…
• Blogging didn’t enable me to stop work; the hard slog my husband and I did before kids allowed me to do that; and the bl**dy hard work my husband does helps us to continue
• I love writing; being able to earn a small wage from something I love is a privilege. Perhaps you ought to think on that, Liz?
• I can’t bake. I am legendarily crap at it. I once put a chopping board and a knife in the oven by accident. They were welded onto the bottom of a baking tray…lets not go into how that happened…
• I can’t knit; virtually or otherwise. My daughter has a knitting doll. She is seven and she is better than me at it. In fact, I might pay her to make all the family Christmas presents this year….then blog about it.

I tried hard to stay in my analyst job, but I couldn’t be the mum I wanted to be. I am lucky I had that choice. I don’t feel any less emancipated now, just because I have stopped bringing in a significant wage. The job I have is no less hard than the one I did before. It’s just different. Mums chat and support each other through refreshingly diverse mediums these days, whether playgroups, internet, Twitter or the virtual knitting WI. All that matters is that we DO support each other in what is an extremely tough job.

I was working long hours, travelling, and doing more than my fair share at weekends. I wasn’t giving my kids my full attention. Having tried not working, and I was a bit rubbish at it, I have found my own happy equilibrium. My kids haven’t yet demolished the house because I am not watching them, and they are less likely to now as I am giving them more time than I ever did before.

I am happy with my lot, and the decisions I have made about my career and kids. So I have one question for you, Liz Jones, are you?

*Please forgive the obscure Red Dwarf quote in the title of this post. I couldn’t resist the reference to Arnold Rimmer and his rather dashing alter ego; Ace. If you haven’t a clue what I am talking about. I pity you. You can join my husband in taking me off somewhere quiet to alleviate the madness.

Image above courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Helen

Helen is a mum to two, social media consultant, and website editor; and this site is (we think) the only Social Enterprise parenting magazine!Since giving up being a business analyst when juggling travel, work and kids proved too complicated, she founded KiddyCharts so she could be with her kids, and use those grey cells at the same time.KiddyCharts has reach of over 1.1million across social and the site. The blog works with big family brands (including travel) to help promote their services, as well as offering free resources to parents of kids under 10.It gives 51%+ profits to Reverence for Life, who fund a number of important initiatives in Africa, including bringing running water and basic equipment to a school in Tanzania.Helen has worked as a digital marketing consultant (IDM qualified) with various organisations, including Channel Mum, Truprint, Talk to Mums, and Micro Scooters. She loves to be creative in the brand campaigns she works on.Get in touch TODAY!

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