Today is a pretty major milestone for my blog, and not because of its own age. I started Helping Moms Connect back in 2004, when my daughters were only 1 and 3. It was a true “mom blog” before that term even existed.
At the time I wrote about everything going on in our lives from potty training to Easter egg hunts to Baby Einstein videos. Although I always focused on product reviews, advice, and deals, it was definitely with an eye toward babies and toddlers. As the years went by, I noticed that my blog was growing up. I converted it from FrontPage to WordPress. I started writing about The Hunger Games and Rocket Math and whether kids should get Facebook accounts.
In the last couple of years I have straddled the line of having one teenager and one non-teenager, who still enjoyed things like Disney Channel and didn’t wear makeup.
Today everything changes.
As of midnight last night, I now have two teenagers on my hands. Baby Cassie is 13 and everything that comes with it.
How Does a Mom of Teens Blog?
You might be thinking it doesn’t change anything, but really it changes everything.
First of all, when merchants come to me because they see I am a “mom blog” and want me to promote or do product reviews for things like child safety products or toys or learning games, I’m not the right person to do it anymore. I don’t even want to pretend to be an expert on those kinds of things anymore because I’m not in thick of it. I’m not a “mommy” anymore and I’m definitely not a “mommy blogger.”
Secondly, I have to be more careful what I blog about. It didn’t really matter when the kids were little that I was telling funny stories about their potty training experiences or inappropriate things they might have said or done. As a mom of teenagers, I can hurt them by what I am posting. My kids are pretty used to having their pictures and videos online, but I have found myself over time writing fewer posts about some of the major issues in our house because it wouldn’t be fair to them. Sure, I can write in general about them hating group projects at school or what I use to curl their hair now. But there are a lot of issues that don’t belong in a public place where their friends and teachers might find them. Yes, that limits some of my content now and means I have to think hard before I publish posts.
Lastly, I have to work harder to find my audience. My audience isn’t a mom deciding whether to breastfeed or what age a first tooth comes out. My audience is now broader. It’s people wanting to know how to remove waterproof mascara and whether a Disney cruise is worth the money. Yes, it’s still moms wanting a little relief from the stresses of parenting and finances and never having enough time. But it’s also everyone looking for those things.
So What Am I Now?
I’m still a mom. And my site is still Helping Moms Connect. And I’ll still be talking about parenting teenagers and family issues. But I also hope to be more than that. I hope to be a place that you will find interesting, humorous, or thought-provoking information. I don’t know exactly what that will look like but I know that for at least the next 5 years while I have a daughter living under my roof, I’ll still be here talking to you.
Now excuse me while I go look through 13 years of pictures and let myself have a little cry!
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