The Latest Post-Pregnancy Trend that’s Sweeping the Nation

As the congratulations on your new arrival die down and you consider throwing out the dying flowers and ponder just how long you can leave those baby cards on display before them turning yellow, you might consider the lives of other new mums.  How do they cope with the greatest life change since their own birth?  Blogs and articles have made nosiness acceptable and allow you to see into the lives of other new mums. Sometimes, you see too much and sometimes you see what they want you to see. Just Google ‘new mum’ and ‘Blogging’ or ‘vlogging’ and amaze yourself at the amount of new mothers who are documenting their daily lives and sharing it with the masses.  Now you may well ask yourself how they have the time to write a blog, pick a fancy font and upload cool pics in which their hair is brushed and their clothes match while you have tried three times, unsuccessfully to brush your teeth today.   Under the circumstances and all things considered, it is OK to dislike the blogging mum!

  
Smug Mum Blogs: These are the worst.  So Uber cool, with black and white art house pics of Mum rolling in 100% Egyptian cotton sheets that have never been hit by projectile vomiting and stray poo from hap hazard nappy changing. Stylised parenting by hipsters and cool dudes whose kids have gender neutral names like Charlie, Jordan and Trixie – Boo. Don’t look at these unless you want to feel more inadequate than you usually do. Never look at them late at night with a glass of wine in hand. Your computer might not be able to take the abuse.

Advising/Helpful Mum Blogs:  If looking for advice on anything from the use of a recliner chair to when the first tooth might appear, a whole bunch of advising blogs are at your disposal. A lot of these are sponsored by Companies, but written by real humans like you and me and they can be the source of great practical advice. The style of the first few sentences is a great indicator of what to expect.  Some blogs may even direct you to special offers on equipment, food etc. Others suggest new recipes and relate funny stories from other parents. The bulk of blogs come into this category and if you find one you like, it can be a source of information and reassurance. Basically you are reading a magazine online and the editor feels like a friend.

Funny Mummy:  Oh yes, parenting is so funny that some mums need to relate, in a comedic manner, their daily escapades raising their offspring. You have to admire their ability to see humour in what can sometimes seem to be a relentless, tedious and thankless job.  Funny mummy blogs (reading or writing) are probably the best solution to frustration when you cannot afford counselling.   Laughter is the best medicine (or so that overused cliché says) so get yourself a dose of the best here. It will reinforce the premise that there is always someone worse off than yourself and does includes one blog called.  People I want to punch in the throat.  Hmmm.

One step beyond- Vlogging:   Vlogging is blogging by video.  Yes, believe it or not there are a lot of families who parent with a video/smart phone at the ready and upload such delights as their children having ears syringed  or swinging in the park… both equally riveting (not) when you do not know, or may never know the people involved. How this will affect the next generation is yet to be played out but I look forward to the day when one of the featured offspring has a melt down at the lack of privacy and the intrusion on their precious childhood and breaks some camera.  No doubt that episode will get lots of hits.  The motivation for this vlogging is not hard to understand when you see that a vlog like itsjudyslife has 1,388,444 subscribers and according to the website social blade (socialblade.com) nets the said Judy somewhere between 3 and 47 thousand euro a month depending on the hits. Remember if you log on to look at this vlog, you are putting more money in her pocket and only encouraging her. Down with this sort of thing!

So, new mums are blogging and vlogging and other mums are definitely reading and watching.  Whatever the tone of these useful and distracting online click-bait missives, there is one over-riding question that every non-blogging mother will ask. Who has time for this stuff?

For those of you still curious, check out these mom blogs!

irishparentingbloggers.com
peopleiwanttopunchinthethroat.com
hipstermum.com
jollymom.com
mamaandbabylove.com/how-i-almost-became-the-smug-mom
mindthebaby.ie
notanothermummyblog.com