I’ve been knee deep in the blogs lately so I’m paying a lot of attention to what’s hot in that space. Diaperless parenting trends, mom blog conferences, innovative dads and a bathroom reno all caught my attention this week.
1. Topping the list of parenting trends gone wrong (and I’m sorry to judge here, but I just can’t be objective in this case) is the diaperless baby crusade that’s gaining popularity in New York City—and who knows where else. To be clear, parents are raising their babies without diapers. Potty training consists of carrying a bowl around with you so that you can anticipate a movement and hold your child over the bowl…in the park, on the street, in a store, at a party, etc. It starts at birth. Here is more on this topic from The New York Times.
2. The most talked about topic this week on the mom blogs was an article in The Wall Street Journal that, according to the bloggers, makes their conferences out to be nothing more than a weekend getaway for moms. Candace Derickx of Life in Pleasantville, and one of our Savvy Storytellers, wasn’t offended at all. In fact, I found her perspective very refreshing, arguing that blog conferences are not much different than drug rep conventions, for example: ‘So why pick on us? Well, because we’re kind of a big deal if you haven’t heard. You have to admit had they written about dentist conventions it wouldn’t have had quite the same bite.’ She goes on to mention that the WSJ is not new to this game. They generated a lot more awareness and social sharing by writing about mom bloggers than they would have if they made the article about drug reps or dentists. I have to agree with Candace: you are a pretty big deal. Well said.
3. New to the influential parenting scene, but not to be missed, are the daddy blogs. Here is a post written by a Steve Weins, The Actual Pastor, who writes honestly about the exhaustion and reality of raising three kids under the age of 5. My favourite quote from the article: ‘One of the reasons we are so exhausted is that we are over saturated with information about the kind of parents we should be.’ What I find interesting about this post is that it somehow feels more palatable if a man writes it. I worry that if a mom wrote something similar it might not receive the same attention or approval—it could be viewed as whining. I hope I’m wrong, but the reality is that we’re tough on ourselves and other moms sometimes. Weigh in below in the comments if you think I’m crazy. But read the post, it’s worth the two minutes of your time.
4. And since I’m hot on cool dads this week (who isn’t), here is one with so many kids he had to create his own invention just to get through storytime. They’re smart phone PJs that allow the children to download their fave stories on their phones for bedtime from their dad’s jammies. I’m not explaining this very well because, truthfully, I don’t really understand it. This article from Babble might help explain. I’m sure he would be thrilled if you are interested in purchasing.
5. On a personal note, my team here at Savvy HQ insists that our readers care about my bathroom renovation, so I have some before and after pics to share with you. The old bathroom was original to the house and it was so old it pretty much stopped working—the pipes needed replacing, etc. So I ended up sharing the master bathroom with my two large and often smelly teenage boys (whom I love dearly despite their hormonal fluctuations and body odours from playing so many sports). That bathroom sharing was just not working for me. So we renovated this one for them. And me.
Tagged under: from the editor's desk
Category: entertainment
