To glaze over at the term "mummy blogger"?

[YoFluffy]

There are blogs and there are blogs. Some are a wonderful example of creative writing, or interesting content, some are informative. And others are mind-numbingly mundane.

AIBU to glaze over at the term "mummy blogger"? Who finds time to read about someone's child having another loose nappy, someone's DH working away for the night, someone deciding beside casserole or curry for tea? More to the point, who is interested? Is this where feminism has brought us? To furiously pen journals about the boring minutae of our day and expect audiences to hang on every word?

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for keeping blogs as our own personal diaries, but surely we aspire to be more than (one of thousands of) "mummy bloggers"?

ho ho I can't imagine that

but on mn you talk to people, when it's a blog you just write what happened to you don't you?

or do people talk to you and ask you about how you got to work or, whatever

People poster comments, telling of their own experiences.

It is a different dialogue to one on MN as the person has sought out my blog, is looking for my opinion. Whereas on mn, I just happen to be posting on the same thread.

I know someone who blogs as part of her business, though it seems like a personal log iyswim. It's very cupcake bunting on the face of it. She has thousands of followers and fangirls who all think they know her just a bit. She also has thousands of haters, precisely because of the cutesy content.

She is very detached about it and pointed out to me that really, there are very few personal details in her posts. As such, she has a thick skin about it. I think blogging and being detached enough to be comfortable with the reaction to "you" has to be quite an art.

(No way could I do it.)

My two favourite mummy bloggers are hilarious, creative and talk about other things too.

Www.girlsgonechild.net

Www.dooce.com

You know, it is so pleasant to have this conversation in this tone. So often these posts are all "bloggers are so bloody boring and up themselves" and then bloggers get defensive and start ranting.

I know that not everyone likes my blog, but not everyone likes cake and I still bake it.

I have managed to avoid most of these, that CherryMenlove one looks like the symptom of a manic episode, so no I don't think YABU OP.

LeBOF there is actually a sewing blog in existence that used to be rather good but now is just a daily post of links to things the blogger likes on Pinterest which is rather depressing and said blogger is [supposedly] making money from said blog.

Blueberties there's much more on most blogs than just saying what happened to you. There are blogs to fit pretty much every niche interest. Yes, some people's are basically an open diary of what they did that day but looking at blogs is also a good way to hear about stuff which interests you, or get people's opinions on the news, or, say, if you wanted to move to a new country you could look up expat blogs from those places - maybe even contact the people to meet up when you move or just to ask questions.

I look on blogs as another resource. You have forums like this where you chat which is great for somethings. Blogs are more like reading short magazine articles. There is something for everyone but I think you have to sieve through a lot of uninteresting blogs to find what you want.

Mme Lindor I know what you mean and obviously petite there has given me a better idea of what's in them but still I find the idea of reading (or writing one heaven forfend) absolutely alien.

For me it's a creative outlet. I'm not a journalist or a novelist (yet) but I like to write. If people like to read what I write that makes it even more worthwihle.

It's like cooking. I'd cook for myself even if I had no-one to cook for.

Others knit, or play sports, or sing, or spend time on forums, or whatever. I guess it's a hobby like any other.

Yes sure. I've always had this shuddering feeling when I read those "I" columnists (Cassandra Jardine, dreadful, dreadful) with the sense that they're selling their families - their children - down the line for some 800-words by next Sunday career. I've never liked it and so I associate blogging with that. But yes, I can see the point when you do it for yourself, and it's a creative outlet and a hobby - I see there is something to be got out of that.

What I can't understand is the (copious) numbers of mummy bloggers on Twitter who get all stressed because they haven't posted on a particular day. Post to whom? The 2 people who read the blog only so theirs will be read in return?

I wonder whether this is all some kind of search for self aggrandisement, as if the Mummy Bloggers simply don't feel it's good enough to simply be mum, but need to qualify this with some other (however tenuous) title?

There are some blogs that are worth reading - there's one of someone's successful fight with cancer that I'm sure helps motivate many - unfortunately the vast majority are instantly forgettable.

That applies to just as many male bloggers though- the tedium of gamers' and gadget nuts' blogs would rival any number of cupcake queens'. It's just that you aren't linked to so many of them via twitter.

I'm coming to this discussion a bit late but have been following some of it on and off through the day and just wanted to add my two pence worth.

I do hate that term "Mummy Bloggers". Partly because I'm not exactly sure what it means. Does it mean bloggers who just happen to be mums and vice versa or is it specific to people that write solely about being a parent in diary form?

In general the blogs I find most interesting are not solely about parenting and are not in diary form. Having said that, there are a few written in this form that are really excellent because the person writing them is a great writer.

I started blogging because I found I was reading a lot of blogs to find recipes. Meanwhile I had friends who were asking for my meal plans/recipes etc and I felt I had a lot I wanted to share about cooking. I just happen to mention my kids from time to time because they are the people I am cooking for. It gives my blog context: I am not cooking a seven course tasting menu because I am cooking for a family of four.

Like everything in life there are excellent blogs, terrible blogs and everthing in-between (which is all a matter of individual opinion of course).

Blueberties
I started out as a typical mumyblogger telling tales of my children, but rarely mention them now unless in passing. I am very conscious that they have a right to privacy, and they will at some point in the future perhaps read the blog.

I share your abhorrence of those who use their families as blog or column filler, with no thought to how they would feel about having their private life exposed to strangers.

dragging this back up to link to Sally Brampton's latest blog post. I've thought about it all week, she's such a wise lady.

www.sallybrampton.co.uk/

MMe Lindor, I agree: there've been some dreadful examples in columns certainly. I have to be honest I don't know about blogs as I haven't read any so that is an assumption I've made, which obviously doesn't obtain in lots of cases.