Heather C Heather C is a married, mom of three: big sis Lily and identical twins Natalie and Sophia. She has been guest blogging for Mumbling Mommy since February of 2012 and began working as a Social Media Editor in 2014. After nearly a decade in banking, she now works part time at a doctor's office specializing in breastfeeding medicine and spends the rest of her days in her Midwest home as zookeeper/stay-at-home-mom. Heather C is also a runner, hiker, yogi, bike rider and more. She reads when she finds more than a few minutes to herself and she hosts a lot of pajama dance parties in her kitchen. In her spare time, she's the co-leader for her daughter's Girl Scout troop and an active member of the school's Parent-Teacher Committee as well as a certified postpartum doula.

It’s been almost four years now since I started writing for Mumbling Mommy. What started as a side hobby to give me an outlet during a crazy time in my life has become a job that I actually enjoy quite a bit. It has expanded to including writing jobs outside of just this blog, and it provides me with some fun money in an otherwise income-less job of staying home with my kids. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, though. There are a few pitfalls of being a mommy blogger:

Pitfalls of Being a Mommy Blogger

  • Weighing out the future: Before every blog post I write, I have to think to myself about what my kids are going to think in 10 years when they find these pieces on the internet. I do not believe in shaming my children on the internet. I share a LOT about my kids and family, but there are some things I personally draw the line at.
  • Finding neutral ground: It would be very easy for me to go on some loooong rants about things other parents do that I cannot stand, but often I have to check myself and remember that a little empathy goes a long
    way. The only shoes I wear are my own. It makes for better writing when I put my personal feelings aside and put together well-sourced informational posts.
  • Internet bravery: I put a lot of heart into the blog posts I write and often they are received well by readers, but every once in a while, a commenter gets brave hiding behind the internet and says something offensive or hurtful in response. At one point, I used nicknames for my children in all of my writing, calling them Orange, Pink, and Purple. Someone commented on a post with, “What special kind of stupid are you? Please tell me you didn’t actually name your kids after colors!!!” I wish I was kidding.
  • The judgement: I rarely tell people in real life that I am a “mommy blogger.” I stopped doing so after getting the worst comments and looks, like what I do means nothing or isn’t a real job or is some kind of joke. I
    normally stick with being a freelance writer. For one, it is actually the truth as I do get paid work to write for things other than parenting, but also it just sounds more glamorous (even though it’s not) and I don’t get judged by strangers. Sometimes I enjoy spicing it up and saying something like I’m a parenting advice columnist, mostly for my own amusement. It’s not really that far from the truth.
  • Privacy: The worst part overall about being a mommy blogger is the privacy. I’m very introverted, so I often have to think about how much information about myself and my family I want out there before committing to a topic. Right now our family is struggling in a lot of ways and it would make for some awesome blog posts to be honest, but our privacy means more to me than the attention (and subsequent benefits like increase in readers, shares, income, etc.)

All in all, I do love the work that I do and I’ll likely continue doing it for some time to come because the pros outweigh the cons, but just remember, like every job, being a mommy blogger is not as easy as it looks.

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Category: Working From Home

Tags: blogging pitfalls