Blogging Moms
Until I read the NY Times article I didn't realize there was a Wal-Mart-store-sized inventory of mother bloggers. (Say it over and over again: Mother bloggers, mother bloggers, mother bloggers.) According to David Hochman, 8500 people write blogs (specifically?) about their children/raising children. That is one long mother blogging bookmarks list.
The article seems to convey that the parents who blog about their kids are just wanting attention. What the article doesn't seem to convey is that this kind of attention is a POSITIVE thing.
So, the other night, my husband (who is taking a leadership course, based on the Dale Carnegie books, paid for by his employer) shared with me the concept that people do the things they do basically to get attention. (Or if you ask me, sometimes to avoid attention) Sometimes people do 'negative' things and become burdens and a source of grief to the folks around them. A perfect example is my 6 year old who starts in with the loudness and noise the minute I get on the telephone, try to watch the Bachelorette or peck on the computer. But grown-ups also can do "negative" things just to get attention. Maybe some people talk loudly or used threatening language just to feel like they have your attention. Then, there are very positive things people do to get attention. Some folks are driven to build a great business, or a country even, and others are extremely generous, philanthropic. Even Nobel Prize winners who have been interviewed have admitted that in the back of their mind one of the things that inspired them in their work was the idea of winning the Nobel Prize.
I don't believe that every single action we people do is motivated by our desire for attention, love, validation or whatever. Many times we are stuck in habits or simply driven by a need to survive.
So I am reflecting on the positive and the negative things I do to 'get attention' for example. And so I realize as I write this, I am a mother blogger. Dang it.
There is more than just words about my kids, though.
Afterall, mothers are people too.
The article seems to convey that the parents who blog about their kids are just wanting attention. What the article doesn't seem to convey is that this kind of attention is a POSITIVE thing.
So, the other night, my husband (who is taking a leadership course, based on the Dale Carnegie books, paid for by his employer) shared with me the concept that people do the things they do basically to get attention. (Or if you ask me, sometimes to avoid attention) Sometimes people do 'negative' things and become burdens and a source of grief to the folks around them. A perfect example is my 6 year old who starts in with the loudness and noise the minute I get on the telephone, try to watch the Bachelorette or peck on the computer. But grown-ups also can do "negative" things just to get attention. Maybe some people talk loudly or used threatening language just to feel like they have your attention. Then, there are very positive things people do to get attention. Some folks are driven to build a great business, or a country even, and others are extremely generous, philanthropic. Even Nobel Prize winners who have been interviewed have admitted that in the back of their mind one of the things that inspired them in their work was the idea of winning the Nobel Prize.
I don't believe that every single action we people do is motivated by our desire for attention, love, validation or whatever. Many times we are stuck in habits or simply driven by a need to survive.
So I am reflecting on the positive and the negative things I do to 'get attention' for example. And so I realize as I write this, I am a mother blogger. Dang it.
There is more than just words about my kids, though.
Afterall, mothers are people too.
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