I spent Saturday at a blogging conference. During the sessions an common piece of advice was that a successful blog needs a clearly defined niche. As I chatted to a friend afterwards she suggested that perhaps my niche could be ‘the outdoorsy Mum blog’ since I post a lot about our adventures outdoors. I thought about it and concluded that narrowing my topics down like this would feel restrictive. That it would leave little room for my posts about how I survived my toddlers tantrums by swigging wine liberally, bribing the children with chocolate and popping on kid’s TV.
I hope my ‘Mum blog’ tells the truth about parenting. That it’s an honest account of my experiences. So that any Mum who ends up here can identify with the joy and despair I experience on nearly every single day that I parent my three amazing children. In fact only today I have been a good parent and a bad parent, several times.
Today I was a bad parent when I shouted at Wonder Girl.
Wonder girl woke up in a bad mood this morning.
Hissy fit after hissy fit until neither of us really understood why she was clinging to my leg in floods of angry tears. She was screeching at a pitch that, in a workplace, would legally require ear protection (where’s the health and safety for Mum’s?) Half an hour later and I started to lose my cool.
“Why are you crying Wonder Girl, Mummy has to make Daddy’s lunch for work, be a good girl and play with your toys while I make Daddy’s packed lunch.”
“waaaaaaaahh, no Mummy no, sniffle sniffle”
I pick her up and she immediately scratches at my face with her sharp little nails. She has started to express her frustration this way recently, and I have to say I don’t love it. I plonk her on the floor and raise my voice and shout.
“Wonder Girl for goodness sake shush, there’s nothing wrong and Mummy is busy. Now go away and leave me alone.”
She looks at me as if she is frightened by this new tone of voice. She then bursts into floods of genuine tears and in between sniffles looks at me, as if she is deeply wounded by  my shouting. I feel like a terrible Mummy and grab her in a cuddle and we move on.
Today I was a good parent when I played with Super Kid.
When I picked up Super Kid from school today he was in a great mood. He asked if we could work together on a lego house he is building. So I headed upstairs with him to his room and discussed with him what he wanted me to do. We decided to build some furniture for the house and agreed that his lego men absolutely needed a corner sofa and some flower arrangements.
We sat side by side and built the furniture, exchanging ideas and passing each other bricks. It was wonderful, we were both happily engaged in the play and enjoying each others company. These are the moments that make the harder times infinitely worthwhile.
So no I won’t be getting any more niche on here. Perhaps that means I won’t be getting huge amounts of traffic, fame or awards. Honestly though I don’t care because I will be enjoying the blogging journey and am incredibly proud of what I have created regardless of my stats.
I think the great thing about being a parent blogger is the versatility it gives you when it comes to what to blog about. I don’t have a niche, today I blogged about crafts and the other day I wrote about exclamation marks! I don’t expect my readers to read it all but I like variety on blogs. And funnily enough I have a post coming up about whether I’ve turned into a terrible mum, we’ve had a few of those shouts days recently! X
Oh my gosh, when I had my second baby and Super Kid was only 20 months old I was the shoutiest Mum ever. It’s so hard to keep your cool when two little people need you constantly. I’m sure your not turning into a terrible mother.
Agree niche is far to restricting. It all sounds a good idea but in practise you have got to be dedicated to just that thing which may get a bit boring or it would for me!
I like variety while writing and reading blogs, so that is niche right out the window!!!
Screw niche, right. Thanks for commenting.
I have been shouty mummy for the last week. We all had to have a sit down and talk about it. I asked the kids if they liked it better when I wasn’t shouting (which they did) and asked them what makes mummy shout (long list) and suggested that maybe if they didn’t do the things on the list then I wouldn’t have to shout. As one of the things on the list was them not listening to me, I don’t hold much hope for the outcome of this little chat
This parenting gig is hard isn’t it. Here’s to shouting.
I’ve never understood the whole niche thing unless you have a clear niche yourself, which so many of us don’t! Keep doing what you are doing and the occasional shouty moment makes us all human 😉 x
Thanks
I totally agree I think the great thing of mum blogs is that one day you are talking about a day out and the next a rant about politics. Anything goes and I think it makes it more enjoyable to read too as things are never boring.
Exactly, it makes blogging interesting for me.
I like the unique content of your blogs, you paint a true picutre, one all Mums can associate with, we all shout, we all bribe our kids chocolate and we have a vice wine, chocolate whatever. Your blogs prove we are not doing anything wrong, and its nice to read the good stuff like outdoorsy stuff and lego building! (I become shouty mum if I step on that stuff, and I wont feel guilty and give a cuddle after either!)
Aw thanks.
I don’t buy this whole ‘niche’ thing – a parent blog is about being a parent and that in itself could never be narrowed down into one area – look at all the hats we have to wear on any one given day! My blog is about honest parenting and these are my most popular posts – I don’t care about the stats I just want to engage with people and make them feel ‘at home’ when they read my posts. Do what feels right for you 🙂
Thanks.
A niche?! Crumbs I have absolutely no hope of fitting into any niche!!!! I love that my blog is a collection of jumbled posts! Bit of this bot of that bit of the other because that exactly reflects my life!!!! Organised chaos. Hopefully with pretty pictures!
I didn’t go to the event on Saturday so I know it’s controversial to make judgements but from some of the posts and tweets I have read I am not sure I want to go next year. All women (can you imagine if a widely promoted event in the parenting community was male only) bloggers feeling guilty about using presets on their cameras and now reading your post about questioning your content. The best thing about having a blog is that it is personal to you. We are not companies with corporate toe the line blogs!
Don’t change a bean!
Look forward to seeing you again at the next event!
xxxxx
I’m not specifically complaining about the event. The advice was simply there for those of us who wanted to change things, and perhaps be a little more professional. I don’t feel they were saying we had to do these things, it just made me ponder whether I wanted to take the advice is all.
Look forward to seeing you soon too.
Your blog is perfect just the way it is. Niche is boring and most of us don’t have one anyway!
Aw thanks missis.
Niche, smeech is all I have to say to that
Bravo.
Thumbs down to niche. Thumbs up to honesty. The road you are on suits you. Don’t change it.
You’re right, I won’t 🙂