Rosie Scribble

Enough is enough

A number of changes will be taking place in the Scribble household this Easter; changes that will bring about some noticeable changes in behaviour, at least that is what I am hoping. I won't be using reward charts or stickers and I won't be instigating any sort of strict regime, as such. However, things will be changing. That much is certain.

I may need to be quite firm, nevertheless. I have discovered that an slack attitude will just not work. I will ensuring there is no room for negotiation, harsh as that may sound. I'm not going to turn into a dictator of course, that would not help matters. But changes need to be made; it is not acceptable for things to stay as they are.

I am going to get tough.

With myself.

For too long it has been easier to focus on the negative. That needs to change. The emphasis now will be focusing on the positive and making a greater effort to hear the good messages that come my way, because they do but I don't alway hear them.

So there will be changes taking place in the Scribble household this Easter. I won't be using reward charts or stickers, but I may treat myself to something luxurious and expensive. But only if my behaviour is good enough.

The Gallery: Outside my front door

This week's Gallery prompt is: Outside my front door. Easy peasy lemon squeezy, I thought, until I glanced around outside to be greeted with the rather unattractive image of three different coloured wheelie bins, a pile of elastic bands left by the postman once again, and a builder working next door who I'm certain would not want to be photographed.

So. Outside my front door, take a sharp right and then travel approximately four miles in a northerly direction, is this slightly more attractive view:

 

This isn't my house understand and those are not my gardens; mine is a tad smaller. They are the grounds of Newstead Abbey. That, however, is my child wandering around the maze. We do have a maze in our own garden of course. That is not a lie. It really is not. Really.

Not.

Did someone mention a conference?

Err ... well ... um ... this is a little weird.

Yesterday, concerned that my blog post earlier in the week had unintentionally sparked a heated and potentially divisive debate within the mummy blogging community, I decided that, for the time being at least, I did not want to write a blog.

Now, as a result of a rather unexpected turn of events, I have a ticket for the forthcoming CyberMummy conference in my hand after winning a scholarship to attend; the ticket was kindly donated by an anonymous blogger.

What a difference a day makes.

I'd like to say that to win the ticket I wrote an award-winning report on the evolution of mummy blogging in the UK highlighting key future trends and potential development opportunities. That would be a lie of course and I could write no such report anyway. Instead, my name was pulled out of a hat. The timing, quite frankly, could not be better.

Today started with a sense of grief that this was the end of the blogging road for me, which also meant that I would lose all the blogging friends I have made over the last year.

Then one email notifying me of my win changed everything. Together with the wonderful support I received as a result of my post yesterday, this has given me the motivation to continue and I am grateful. Very grateful.

I am exhausted after the emotion on the last couple of days. I will be taking a short break to relax and refocus, but I am relieved that this isn't the end of the road. I'm just stopped to refuel and then I'll be carrying on along this rather unpredictable blogging  journey and who knows where it may lead. I certainly have no idea!

I was going to write...

I was going to write about IJ today and how has reached the point where she is happy, healthy and proud of herself.

I was going to write about The Worry Book we discovered that helps children cope with anxiety through a range of really helpful exercises and some beautifully written text.

I was going to say what a relief it is to be starting the Easter holidays on a positive, upbeat note and how wonderful it is that she has passed through her difficult stage.

I was going to expand on all of the above.

But I've decided not to.

I wrote a post about the term 'Mummy bloggers'. I wrote it to highlight what a wonderful and talented bunch we all are; that we are mummies and so much more. And I wrote it because it is a term whose meaning I had been thinking about recently. I wanted to share my thoughts. That's all.

I wish I hadn't.

The post has created a wider debate about the term 'mummy bloggers' that seems to have resulted in anger and upset. It was never my intention to write a post that would spark debate and create friction within the mummy blogging community. It was supposed to be an empowering post not a divisive one.

So I'm taking a break from it all. 

For the time being at least, I don't want to do this anymore.

Are we mummy bloggers or are we something more?

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.