Two people this week, both bloggers and both mothers, commented to me that they don't read mummy blogs. It left me feeling quite taken aback and questioning the term mummy blogger. I'll admit I felt a little offended, as if the term was somehow slightly patronising and inferred that mummy blogs are all about, well... mummies. Yet I don't feel they are.
We are mothers, but does the term mummy blogger identify us as mums and nothing else?
Don't get me wrong - I love being a mum. I love writing about my daughter, the funny things she says, the obstacles she has overcome, and I enjoy documenting aspects of her life. I'm proud of being a mum and I'm proud of being a mum who blogs. I enjoy it, and I like my little corner of the blogosphere.
However, there is more to my life than motherhood. It is only part of my identity, albeit a large part, and I am sure that is the case for many others. The term mummy blogger seems to miss the fact that there are other sides to our identity too.
Some of us are professional writers, journalists, career women, business women, qualified accountants, lawyers, marketing consultants and so on, or we were before we had children and many of us would like to work in those roles again. Or we would like to forge a new career when the time is right.
Many of us are stay-at-home mums who run successful households and manage a household budget, and we are also wives or girlfriends, friends and neighbours with skills, talents and a more rounded identity than the term mummy blogger gives, in my view.
We are mums; we write blogs, but we are also intelligent women with views and opinions and a life that extends beyond motherhood, to a greater or lesser extent. We write about our children, naturally, but we write about other topics too - health, relationships, relaxation, travel, how to write a blog, how to save money - the list is endless. We're a talented bunch.
So we are mummy bloggers in that we are mums who blog, but I also think we are so much more.
