[left pic by sean dreilinger]
Lately I’ve been wondering why certain blogs I don’t bother reading’re popular. The ones about babies, say.
I get why, say, certain tech blogs are popular, cuz there’re lotsa techy bloggy people surfing around the internet, obviously. They invented the thing. The tech speak’s over my head, so I don’t read ‘em, but I can, on a theoretical level, understand their appeal. And the same tech people make cool webby things happen, so I love them.
I’m less certain as to why the “my kid says the darndest things” type blogs’re so popular. Like Dooce, for ex, and its wannabes, like sweatpantsmom.
Don’t get me wrong — I think babies’re cute. I knit baby booties, and I especially think singing lullabyes is fun cuz I like singing without judgement. And I get why the story’s interesting to the parents, in a parent-centered, myopic level.
But I also think the adults who have lil kids often pontificate about them way too much, without much regard to social empathy, to people who don’t give a shit what their precious kid said at breakfast about pancake syrup.
This was more of a problem when I worked and felt obligated to nod politely to, say, my boss Heidi’s “funny” anecdotes about her lil son. Now, I don’t have to nod politely, and I don’t have to read “funny” blogs about the darndest things lil kids say. So I don’t.
So what’s up with these other people? Where are they from? What do they do? Why do they read Dooce?
I am not interested in babies, but interested in blog readership patterns.
Maybe the people who read these mama blogs are other mamas. But from the mama-to-mama convos I’ve been privy to, it seems to me that a mom only listens to another mom’s story so she can get that other mom to finish and shut up and listen to her own story.
Then again, I was only privy to these types of convos in work situations, and perhaps these convos were artificial work convos. Perhaps most mamas do really care what other mamas have to say.
I don’t have close friends with lil kids, and I like it that way — yay!
To readers with kids — don’t write me off. Remember, I like babies. And I support better maternity leave legislation, better child support for single moms, better public education and health care, better life-work balance deals, etc. etc.
In return, about those my kid’s so cute stories — If I’m interested, I’ll ask.
And really, I never ask.
I think many parents read other so-called “momma blogs” because day-to-day parenting can be very isolating. When I find myself thinking that I am going just a little bit crazy over the little things my kid does, reading about how other parents are dealing with the same issues helps put things into perspective and bring me back to reality.
Comment by Erin — April 2, 2007 @ 12:41 pm
Well, babies are sort of universal. I can ooh and ah at a cute one in a baby carriage just like I do with a cute dog, but I don’t have either and don’t plan on having either.
I don’t like extended baby/office conversations prolly like some of my friends and officemates tune out quickly when I go on about green politics and green livin.
Baby photos attract –a tip is to use them on an activist flyer, or any flyer, to attract attention.
Comment by Lisa — April 2, 2007 @ 1:47 pm
i am a stay-at-home mom of two and i don’t read those baby blogs but i do read a lot of info online about child care and discipline like babycenter.com.
i also chat with friends a lot about our kids to get advice and much of it is quite useful.
but the real reason i’m writing a comment: that’s my kid in the picture!
ha ha
isn’t he cute?
this morning he just did the *cutest* thing…
Comment by rachel — April 2, 2007 @ 5:33 pm
If I had to read a bunch of “my kid says the darndest things†type blogs, I would have to shoot my computer. And I am a mommyblogger.
Few of us are all about motherhood and our children or the cuteness of parenting. Most of us talk about everything that every other blog does. We just happen to be mothers and that in itself will bring an impact on how we feel about some issues.
Sometimes I get advice. Sometimes I roll my eyes. Sometimes I wonder if they will ever shut up. Like with tech blogs. Or knitting blogs. Or gaming blogs. Or feminist blogs. Or dog blogs. You get the point.
Comment by Jenn — April 3, 2007 @ 6:38 am
I read dooce but not because of the baby stuff, but probably in spite of it. I think the stuff about religion and her depression is interesting, and I can handle a bit of baby thrown in but I skip the monthly daughter letters completely.
Comment by Stephanie — April 3, 2007 @ 6:58 am
Oh, and I my personal pet peeve is animals! My old boss made me look at all the animal emails she got all the time. She loved looking and talking about animals. I am completely disinterested in all domestic animals.
Comment by Stephanie — April 3, 2007 @ 6:58 am