The other day I was with a group of people and somehow the topic of my blog came up. When one of them asked what kind of blogger I was. Of course, I gave the standard, “I am a Mommy blogger.” At that point, they gave me the most puzzled look, as if I had said something wrong. When I questioned them, they said they were shocked as I was the stereotypical Mommy blogger. This peaked my curiosity as to what their definition of a Mommy blogger was.
They proceeded with their list of so-called Mommy blogger traits:
- Married
- Under the age of 35
- Either pregnant or a newborn at home
- Usually more than one child
- Usually a stay at home Mom
- Feeds are filled with pictures of them with their kids
After pondering the above list, I realized that according to the apparent Mommy blogger standards, I didn’t fit one single item in the mold. I am single, over 40, I have only one child that is 9, I work full-time. I also don’t post pictures of my son’s face out of respect of an agreement I have with his father. Yup, not one typical trait. So what does that tell me about my ability to be a Mommy blogger? Absolutely nothing.
Just because I don’t fit the mold, doesn’t mean I don’t know what it is to be a Mom. I am just different than the average Mom. I don’t even like saying that. Average Mom….what does that even mean? No Mom is average, we all do things differently and we all do some things the same. I don’t understand how they can say there is a “typical” type of Mommy blogger. The only true trait that we all share is that we have a child, hence making us a “Mom”. Am I wrong here?
Did I somehow miss the meeting in the 4th grade where all the girls get pulled into the bathroom and taught what a real Mom blogger was? The last I checked being a Mommy blogger meant that we had found an outlet to express ourselves and find others that were in similar situations to connect with. When I look a some of my favorite Mommy bloggers that I follow and have amazing blogs, they don’t always fit the mold either. They may only have 1 child, they may work full time, they even may be single but they are Mom’s and kicking butt at the Mommy blog thing just as well as the others.
And do I want to be normal? I thought we all strived to be different, individuals, our own person. In the words of Maya Angelou, “If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.”
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