The BlogFather – Am I Doing it Right?
I read something online a while ago when battling “writer’s block” that said to read. Reading enhances the creative flow and may give bursts of inspiration. It seemed like sound advice. It’s not encouraging plagiarism – many great writers take inspiration from others’ work and experiences but put their own spin on it. So, I figured I’d read up on some blogs by parents to give me some pointers and ideas on how to mould this arc of my blog.
As you can imagine, the internet is swamped with parents (predominantly mothers) blogging. The content varies between amateur bloggers and professional bloggers who have turned their life into a full-time job in itself and doing what they enjoy doing. That’s the ideal job isn’t it? Doing what you enjoy. One thing that struck me across all the blogs is the oozing positivity and enthusiasm. It got me thinking.
I love my kids. I would kill for my kids. But to have that level of enthusiasm and positivity seems impossible. Am I doing it right? My kids do my head in at times. Yes, I may moan about their attitude and laziness when it comes to doing their chores but they’re my girls and I wouldn’t change them. But it doesn’t change the fact they do my head in. These parents seem to either hide that fact very well or choose to give us one side of the story. In my opinion anyway.
It can’t be normal to be that positive can it? Or is it because the blogs I’ve read so far have been predominantly women who tend to be the gender which is attributed those characteristics? Women, by nature, do tend to be a lot more outgoing and bubbly and approach the subject of parenthood with a flood of enthusiasm and gusto as well as other aspects of life as well. Most blokes play things down to the point it could be misconstrued as a blatant disinterest.
Off the back of my last post, how do you know how good a job you’re doing? How do you measure the success or effectiveness of your parenting skills? Who sets the benchmark and at what point are the results available? It’s inspiring as much as it is deflating to feel that the things these parents blog about and live day in and day out put you to shame. The events and moments they share are like a window into a life you wish you could have. The fact that, no matter how tiring it is being a parent, they seem to overcome it and turn it into something that generates a quality of life that others envy as well as getting paid just to be a parent and tell the world about it. It seems like lunacy and I’m sure that, back in the day before the internet was really a thing, this concept would have been laughed off and anyone claiming this would be an eventuality would ridicule you. How nuts is it that parents share their lives and get a monetary pay off as well as the sense of pride, accomplishment and gratification that life bestows upon them?
I guess that’s their ‘”voice” and the “voice” I have created or stumbled upon is more the trials of the average parent which fits in with the title of my site. Aside from a play on words of “The Flying Scotsman”, the title came to me fairly quickly back when I flirted with podcasting very briefly. Again, it was a bit of wordsmithery in that it conveys the sense of trying as in making an attempt or effort to do something; but also the double-edge of it in the sense of to be testing or annoying/difficult. Wordplay is the only thing I give myself credit for being good at from innuendos, double entendres, puns and the like.
Anyhoo, I won’t be disheartened too much by it and I will continue to check out these blogs as well as explore others but I just felt like I should vent and say what none of the other blogs seem to say or convey: kids are incredibly hard work and if you’re able to function on a daily basis AND enjoy it, you’re winning. If, like me, you make it through the day by the hairs on your arse, you’re doing okay. You can’t bee great at everything all the time. Just like it’s impossible to ooze energy on a daily basis (unless you employ the powers of drugs whether they be legal or otherwise).
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—The Trying Scotsman has a ‘Don’t Be A Dick’ policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—
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