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Why is that largely, only women write parenting blogs? Does it say anything about the roles of dads in our families?
I started blogging at about the same time that I started my journey as a mother. And in the past few years, personal interest and sheer necessity has found me at many an odd hour on many a parenting blog – sometimes it is to read about how to handle a situation, sometimes it is to learn and prepare myself (for better or worse), sometimes it is to get an alternate opinion/view-point/perspective, sometimes it is for all the wisdom and “gyaan”, sometimes it is just to know that I’m not alone (and a zillion other mothers have been there and done that!), sometimes it is just to feel that I am fortunate (and could have had it a lot worse!), sometimes it is to dream about how much better it could have been (had I been in someone else’s shoes), sometimes it is just to kill time (though that’s rare, but then it counts as “ME” time for a mother!), sometimes it is just a break from the drudgeries and monotony of everyday life, and sometimes it is just to bring a bit of sunshine to my rather gloomy day!
All literature and theory talks about Parenting as a shared responsibility between the father and the mother. And yet! I find that 95% of the parenting blogs are authored by women – in most cases mothers.
Let me give you a few examples:
(1) Check the list of authors in the HuffingtonPost Parenting section, and the vast majority of the writers / contributors are women / mothers
(2) Check the list of posts and their contributors at Parentous – which is an Indian parenting community blog, and more than 95% of content and comments are from women/mothers (And I’m one of their regular contributors, and a regular reader here – So I can vouch for this)
(3) Check the parenting blogs listed on the Directory of Top Blogs in India ; which is an ongoing effort to showcase some of the best Indian blogs and bloggers from India . The section itself is titled as “Mommy Bloggers” and includes all women / mothers. There’s not even a section for Daddy Bloggers.
(4) The only multi-platform Parenting show (including blog, video, TV, Twitter, etc. ) in India that I am aware of and follow is the The Tara Sharma Show. Again, it has been conceptualized and is anchored by a woman / mother.
To be honest, the only parenting related blog which I’ve come across that is run by a dad is A Dad’s Point of View by Bruce Sallan.
I can’t help but wonder why a vast majority of the parenting blogs are mostly authored by women / mothers.
Is it because women/mothers are more involved in parenting?
Is it because women/mothers feel more strongly about parenting?
Is it because women/mothers are the primary care-givers for their children and hence have more to express/share?
Is it because the women/mothers have more time? Come on! In case you didn’t know, being a mother is a 24 X 7 X 365 days of the year job. So a mother has to create/make the time to write (in spite/despite everything!)
And also, I can’t help but wonder why more men / daddies don’t write on parenting blogs.
Is the man/daddy not qualified to write? I don’t buy it!
Is the man/daddy not experienced to write? I thought parenting is an everyday experience?
Is the man/daddy not competent to write? Come on! If he can write those lengthy e-mails, complex software code, complicated balance sheets and management reports, then a note on parenting should be child’s play?
Is the man/daddy not interested in sharing his personal experiences? Huh! From when did men feel shy about sharing their experiences, however personal they may be?
Would like to hear your views.. Leave a comment to let me know…
*Photo credit: Mike Licht (Used under the Creative Commons Attribution License.)
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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