So what exactly is the definition of a Blogger Mom/InstaMom? As always my first place to look for info is….YES! Google and here are the images that popped up! Via Pinterest

Do any of you look like this? while mothering? I was on a live chat a few weeks ago, where there was a discussion about Blogger moms and just bloggers in general. One of the participants in the chat said that “nowadays every single housewife is a blogger mom, as they are just bored and have nothing to do” I had to literally bite my tongue to not say something. That got me thinking, who and what exactly is a Blogger mom /Instamom? So lets start with me.

Who am I? What do I do? Why do I blog? 

“I have always been a creative and have always wanted to create, but being born in the generation that I was, I had to follow what society prescribed and that is to become a professional. If I could I would probably have either gone into Interior designing, Fashion or Photography. BUT! I chose to complete a BA degree. After three years and “life” needing to happen, I decided to go overseas and work! I lived overseas for 6 years before returning to South Africa where I enrolled for postgraduate studies to complete my PGCE.Then I completed my BEd-Hons, Masters degree and now busy with my PhD. I am a lecturer at the Faculty of Education and I enjoy my work thoroughly.

During my pregnancy I had it all. Swollen feet at 12 weeks, I blew up from water retention, I developed gestational diabetes and I also developed carpal tunnel syndrome in my left hand. My mom also passed away when I was five weeks pregnant. Hudson was born at 36 weeks, as my water broke during the middle of the night. I underwent a C-section by myself as my hubby got sick and had to go to the ER. Soooooo many things happened. I struggled a lot in the beginning. Not knowing what to do and most importantly missing my mom a lot. My mood was affected and i was in a really bad space. I was diagnosed with post natal depression. I found that there is a big stigma behind it. Some ppl think that you can just snap out of it. I am sorry but it doesn’t work like that at all. I had all these emotions and fears running through my mind and I needed a release. I needed a space to let it all out and that is why I started my blog. This is also well documented in the first post I made on my blog.

When I noticed that all my IG posts included photos of Hudson, I decided to change my account name to Raising Little Hudson. The word Little had so much meaning to us, as that is what the nurses called Hudson while in NICU. After a week and a half we were finally able to take Hudson home and the one nurse said “Enjoy, raising little Hudson”. Our account started getting about 100 followers a week . What I enjoy most is to interact with the Mommy followers and to share what I have picked up, may it be from Motherhood, clothing brands, health and nutrition and of course babies. What excites me the most is being able to also be part of the growing up phases from all the Mommy’s who are following us. I have a good eye for detail, so when I see something that excites me, of course I am going to share. I have always supported local brands, and if a brand stands so true to its name, then I am sold. If the products are packaged with care and of high quality, that’s something I share as well. Hudson has recently started crawling and saying “Mamma” so I decided to change his IG account to Raising_Hudson_dK . It will be a name that he grows and develop with and look back for years to come.

I want to quote the following that I saw on a Facebook post recently.

“Everyone is becoming a model, photographer, DJ, Blogger, influencer etc. Now I mean this in every way possible. Well done and keep going. I see too many people saying “There are too many DJ’s; Nowadays everyone is a blogger, how can she become a model?” You right there (YES YOU).Because YOU have done nothing with YOUR life in the last three years and all of a sudden, decided to adopt the title of “Judge Judy’s understudy.” I hate to break it to YOU. YOU are exactly what is wrong with society. Why can’t everyone become a model, DJ, blogger or influencer? To those who are striving for success in any way possible. You are amazing”

You, yourself and nobody else has a voice. Do not let anyone break you down. If you create content that your followers love and enjoy, continue doing it. There is space enough for everyone to tan under the sun. Recently there was a link on News 24 about how bloggers are making money. Good on you! if those are your intentions and you do a product justice, then by all means go for it. But do not break people down. Do not bad mouth bloggers if you do not like their actions or what they say or what they post. It is difficult enough to tell others your thoughts, so to reveal it on a social platform for everyone to see should be seen as a courageous act. If it helps you to type out your thoughts, then by all means do it. YOU decide, do not let others decide for you. It does not matter if you have one follower or 21k followers. It shouldn’t be a competition, yet it is so apparent that it has become one. The need to reach x amount of followers is so obvious, that you lose sight of why you started in the first place. Everything in life is build on cause and effect, so I will just leave it there for you to interpret that yourself. Do what you are passionate about and do what makes you happy.

x