I am by no means a perfect mother or even wife for that matter. Like many, I have faults that are both visible to the naked eye, and buried deep within myself, both causing daily struggles within me as well as with my family. To some my struggles are also my faults, to me they are my hurdles, some even mountains that I alone have to bear. With these struggles, I often find myself searching for answers from others for the inner battles I struggle with, to little avail. There are not many, especially mothers who fight the same battles which makes my search a dogged one. Yet I know that while I am a mother found few and far between, there are others who struggle in a similar way that have been on the same, or similar quest as I am on now. This is why I write. I write to reach those mothers like myself who sometimes struggle with the "normal" daily routine of motherhood, who have fought with themselves just to make dinner, let alone playtime with the kiddos or quality time with the husband. Honestly I don't think I even remember the last time my husband and I did anything more than sit in the same room letting the tv watch us without a kid coming in screaming at the top of their lungs about how their sister looked at them the wrong way, hit them, or didn't want to play with them. This is the life of an uncommon mom with four kiddos under the age of ten, the oldest having emotional issues and my youngest being born with Down syndrome. To say the least, my days are never dull.
Every person struggles, and all struggles are different. No one person is able to judge another's struggle, say it is less or more than their own as all struggles are different. The life I live, the family I have, and the people I choose to surround myself with are in place because I have done something or another to have them in that exact spot. I do not follow along with the mainstream media, the blogs of talentless women flaunting around whatever city is the focus this season, or even the nightly news because of the nonsense that is given to the unsuspecting public, being camouflaged as information. I do not teach my children the typical history book stories, rather the true stories of our history and our present so that they begin life with a realistic point of view. I teach my children to be leaders, to set their own standards, to be un-follwers of the mainstream nonsense and opinions that are based on very little truth.
It is not easy to be an un-follwer especially in the age of Facebook and Twitter, where you are considered disloyal if you do not follow one of your so called friends. In this the technology age, people have stopped having face to face contact, less speaking to one another and more texting. Have we as a society lost touch with each other for convenience? Is this what we want our children to learn, that you don't actually have to know a person to be their "friend"? I encourage more of us to elect be un-followers, to teach our children to be un-followers. There is such a stigma in having the most followers, views, re-tweets, etc., that there is no room left to be an individual with integrity. Yet another reason to be an UN-follower.
Recently there has been more attention to the "mommy blogger " that I am beginning to think that there is no true respect from the mainstream media for a writer who happens to be a mom. It could be my own mind playing tricks on me, taking offense to the things that should be brushed off, yet I can't help but notice that the respect that once was possibly given to a mother who was a writer, had now been diminished to just being a "Mommy blogger". I would like to believe that mother's are a group seldom heard from outside our own homes and immediate circles, but I have to be the voice of reality. As mother's, we are voicing our opinions more than just to the anonymous web but also in our children's schools, with doctors, in our daily lives yet I would like to believe that the opportunity to voice my opinions to the broad audience of the web is much better than once in a while having to call someone's corporate office to get my point across.
Whatever the forum, whatever the content I am ready to voice my opinions on anything from parenting to maternal depression to marital discourse, in a way that is seldom heard in mainstream media, very blunt with little to no filter. At times you may think to yourself, she is too raw, she needs censorship, or whatever else you may think of the outspoken. I am a mother who has seen the bad side of most facets of life including less than notable healthcare, being misdiagnosed and having to literally fight to be seen by a Dr., along with my children who have suffered rare hearing disorders going years without being properly diagnosed, dealing with a post partum diagnosis of Down Syndrome in my youngest as At in a positive way instead of esson. I am by no means looking for a pity party, rather showing the adversity that I have faced, and have been able to conquer in my life to only use it as a building block of sorts. The challenges I have faced in life have given me experiences that I can use to teach my children, stories to tell over coffee, and endless writing material that promises to at least keep your attention. While many of the roads I have traveled have brought me to where I am now, the stops along the way have been worth it.
Recently there has been more attention to the "mommy blogger " that I am beginning to think that there is no true respect from the mainstream media for a writer who happens to be a mom. It could be my own mind playing tricks on me, taking offense to the things that should be brushed off, yet I can't help but notice that the respect that once was possibly given to a mother who was a writer, had now been diminished to just being a "Mommy blogger". I would like to believe that mother's are a group seldom heard from outside our own homes and immediate circles, but I have to be the voice of reality. As mother's, we are voicing our opinions more than just to the anonymous web but also in our children's schools, with doctors, in our daily lives yet I would like to believe that the opportunity to voice my opinions to the broad audience of the web is much better than once in a while having to call someone's corporate office to get my point across.
Whatever the forum, whatever the content I am ready to voice my opinions on anything from parenting to maternal depression to marital discourse, in a way that is seldom heard in mainstream media, very blunt with little to no filter. At times you may think to yourself, she is too raw, she needs censorship, or whatever else you may think of the outspoken. I am a mother who has seen the bad side of most facets of life including less than notable healthcare, being misdiagnosed and having to literally fight to be seen by a Dr., along with my children who have suffered rare hearing disorders going years without being properly diagnosed, dealing with a post partum diagnosis of Down Syndrome in my youngest as At in a positive way instead of esson. I am by no means looking for a pity party, rather showing the adversity that I have faced, and have been able to conquer in my life to only use it as a building block of sorts. The challenges I have faced in life have given me experiences that I can use to teach my children, stories to tell over coffee, and endless writing material that promises to at least keep your attention. While many of the roads I have traveled have brought me to where I am now, the stops along the way have been worth it.
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