Everyone has an opinion about parenting nowadays. And why shouldn’t we? In fact, how could we not, unless we’re living under a rock? Personally, I love how parents, finally, are so open and honest. Hallelujah!
I love writing about parenting, reading about parenting, discussing parenting issues with virtual strangers (and even real strangers) and of course, raising my two children.
I adore parents who brag about their children’s accomplishments, or share their parenting ups and downs, or even complain about their children. It’s called being human.
I could easily spend hours on Facebook, or Instagram, ‘liking’ cute baby photos—kids with ice cream covering their faces, or silly ‘laugh-out-loud-kids-say-the-darndest-things’ posts. I admit, I am far from a perfect person (I leave wet towels on the bed. I am not a good cook. I wait for that yellow notice on my door before paying the hydro bill.) However, the one area in my life I truly believe I have done (mostly) right, thus far, is being a mother. It is by far, for lack of better words, my greatest and most difficult accomplishment.
Like many others, I have ‘good-on-paper’ accomplishments, but none as exciting as hearing my children laugh, or watching them grow into their own little beings, with their own little personalities.
I had my daughter, Rowan, at 29, the result of a drunken, obviously careless night. (Come on, I know I’m most definitely not the only one.) I had no clue what to expect. Back then, almost 14 years ago, there were few websites dedicated to pregnancy and parenting. I really could have used a reliable, funny, resourceful and savvy parenting site to guide me through, well, all of it. In fact, I still do. Why? Because I’ll always be a parent. And I’ll always take help.
Years ago, every book I picked up about being pregnant, or a mother-to-be, pretty much scared the crap out of me. Those parenting books may as well have been called, 8,342 Ways Your Pregnancy Could Go Wrong. I just couldn’t read them.
Instead, I wrote a book about my pregnancy, Knocked Up!, my first book in a trilogy of parenting books, including Wiped! Life With A Pint-Sized Dictator, and Toddlers Gone Wild! In Knocked Up!, as with all my writing, I wrote as truthfully as possible about my pregnancy struggles, which included twice daily visits to McDonalds, how I wore slippers out for dinner, how I worried I was going to lose my job to someone NOT pregnant, and how I gained 60 pounds. At that time, some of what I wrote was considered pretty controversial stuff, including, but not limited to, having a scheduled C-Section, not breastfeeding, and how I got a pedicure and bikini wax before I gave birth. Almost 13 years later, I still get e-mails from soon-to-be-moms begging to know who my doctor was, because they, too, want a C-section.
In Wiped!, I opened up about my postpartum depression, long before celebrities spoke out about it. Again, I still get e-mails from readers, suffering from postpartum depression, who just want to let me know I helped them, because they knew they were not alone.
Although the web is full of parenting information, to make that connection with another mother who needs support (even if it’s just one) in an often disconnected world, is truly a beautiful thing.
In Toddlers Gone Wild, I wrote about everything from the hour-and-half bedtime routine (‘Put your foot in this leg hole! No, not both! Just one damn leg!’) to the ‘Why? But Why? But Why? Why? Why?’ phase, to pretending my daughter wasn’t mine, once, while she was having a tantrum at an airport. (Yeah, I did that.)
The world of parenting has changed drastically, even over the last few years. Four years ago, I gave birth to my baby boy, with a different man (definitely planned, including a reverse vasectomy. They don’t give deals for getting a reverse vasectomy and then having another vasectomy, in case you were wondering.) Never before have we talked about ‘parenting’ so much, and so openly. Never before has so much been written about parenting, from scientific studies to celebrity ‘baby bump’ photos in gossip rags. And, what can I say? I’m hooked.
These days there’s a new ‘trending’ topic on parenting every week. The greatest blog posts, or articles on parenting, are the ones that are truthful, relatable, and start a conversation. Here at Savvy, we want to keep these sorts of conversations going. Agree with us? Great! Don’t? That’s okay too.
Parenting, really, is like a magical, tipsy summer night with good friends, one that perhaps we don’t always completely remember, but at SavvyMom, at least it can, and will be, with people hopefully we’ll, and you’ll, never forget. So let us connect. Let us make an impact. Let us support. Let us (try) not be judgmental. Let’s simply start by being Savvy.
Tagged under: rebecca eckler
Category: parenting
