7 Most Annoying Things Said About Mom Bloggers
When mom bloggers meet up in person at conferences, it’s one of the few times we get full support for the path we’ve chosen professionally. Too often our real world friends and acquaintances either don’t understand what we do or why we do it – not to mention that large segment of the world that thinks that what we are doing is stupid, dangerous, or even possibly harmful.
It can be frustrating to have our hard work so easily dismissed. I asked a bunch of friends what were the most common annoying things they hear. Do they sound familiar?
1. MONEY.
Everyone asks the money question. It comes in various forms: “How can you make money?” “You can make money doing that?” “Who pays for that?” The answer is LOTS OF FOLKS, MOFO.
2. JUST A MOM BLOGGER.
Yep, we hear this one all the time, and Kelby reminded me today (Kelby is a blogger, entrepreneur, journalist, and conference organizer, so “just” anything my ass). My favorite version of this came from my friend Robin: ”So, now that all the kids are in school full time, are you looking for a real job?” Answer: NO. Now I can actually get my work DONE.
3. THE NARCISSIST ANGLE.
Haven’t you heard? Bloggers are all narcissists! My response is: DUH. It’s usually framed less directly: “You mean, you just write about your life? And people read it?” or ”You really think you have that much to say?” or “You think your life is that interesting?”
4. I DON’T GET IT.
There’s a whole population of folks that don’t understand what bloggers do, nor do they care. A great example from Melanie: “We’d ask what you’re doing, but none of us understand it anyway. Let’s just talk about something else.” Or tying into #1 from Rajean: “Ok, sure, but what else do you do, because that’s just for fun, right? Like, you’re not paid to do that, so what’s your day job.”
5. EXPLOITING OUR CHILDREN.
Because we blog about our lives as mothers, it seems to be just a skip over to exploitation in a lot of folk’s eyes – particularly if you share photos of your children. I wonder if anyone asked A.A. Milne if he was exploiting his son when he wrote Winnie the Pooh (the original drawings are based on his son too)?
6. FREE STUFF.
My friend Christine told me, “I had one “friend” ask me if I spent any of my own money on Christmas gifts last year or if i got them all for free. The nerve!” The other variation of this one comes in the #7 spot…
7. HOW CAN I BE A BLOGGER?
Once they hear you “make money hanging out in your pajamas in front of the computer”, the very next question is about how they can get in on the action. “OOOoo I want to blog so I can get free stuff, too! Can you help me?” was recently said to Clarissa. Leticia always gets, “So how do I get laptops/phones/video games to review too?” The best response come from Dwan: “I just laugh and say ‘I’ve been doing this over four years, it took practice.”
Got stuff to add? Put it in the comments!
I’ll confess. I am *almost* guilty of #7. I would have loved being a Momblogger back in the day when our kids’ antics were cute, normal and not-totally-embarrassing. Now? Not so much.
Are there some MB posts that might seem a little “so what”? Sure. However, MOST bloggers have an off day now and again. Big whoop. I follow those who make me laugh, cry, think and dream. I UNfollow those that constantly whine, complain, or get their panties in such tight knots they walk sideways.
Anybody who claims to hate Mombloggers, yet continues to follow them? Get a life, or GTFU.
You are hitting them all out of the ballpark today, Cecily.
I LOVE when people, my mom in particular, asks “so when the girls are in school all day, you will get a “real job”, right?” Wow! Apparently, she thinks what I do is easy, pointless and not “real” work. I’ve put more blood, sweat, tears and love into my blog than I ever did any other job I’ve ever done…aside from mothering. I’m assuming that she thinks mothering is easy work too:)
Love this post. I especially like the part where you said, “now I can get my work done.” Priceless. Great job.
Great, now I should really apologize for saying all of those thing, in on form or another to, myself.
Thanks for putting me on watch. :-/
Ha ha ha… you nailed a lot of those down.
And yes that little word “just” is dangerous and often applied to “just a mom” and “just a mom(my) blogger”. UGH
But hey, if they actually said “just a mom blogger” and didn’t say “mommy blogger”, I’d be impressed. LOL
NAIL. HEAD. or head, nail. Whichever goes first, it’s 8:30am & I haven’t had an appropriate amount of coffee yet.
My favorite is when I see shit being said about me on the internet, mostly about 1,3,5,& 6. How I’m a “sell-out” & a “narcissist.” & then you go a few pages back & it’s the same people saying that they’re jealous of bloggers who get to do cool things, review cool products, & make money.
& then I laugh.
I just wrote a post this week about how rude and dismissive people tend to be when they learn I write a blog, and how I tend to admit to it with a sense of contrition as a result. And I DON’T get paid to do it (at least not yet). I blog purely for the love of writing, to chronicle my memories of my daughter, and because writing is therapeutic for me. It’s a hobby just like gardening, scrapbooking, or running. But for some reason, it’s treated as if it’s a dirty, taboo practice.
I’ve even had someone say to me, “Oh, you’re not a REAL writer.” Ouch.
I am wondering how male bloggers are perceived in the ‘real world.’ Is the dismissive attitude about blogging? Or about women blogging? Or, the ultimate offense, being a mom who may be trying to color outside the lines?
It’s a pretty good list, Cecily, but you missed “prostitute”. That’s what I was called this week. Apparently, I was a legitimate writer, but now I’m prostituting myself because I have an ad on my site. It hurt.