Suburban Kvetch

Five of my favorite mom blogs

Last night at holiday dinner a friend of mine asked if I went to that “Mom Blog convention” in Chicago this summer.

“Oh no,” I said. “I went two years ago and this year I stayed far away.”

I explained about the swag and the cliques and the pushing of moms with babies.  I recounted how blogging started for many as a vehicle for story telling and has morphed into a platform for free stuff.  I told her about Blog with Integrity and the effort to realize that the blogosphere is big enough for everyone — but that we need to know what we’re reading.

Everyone listening understood - even if they had never read a blog let alone a mom blog.  I described my penchant for writing for the sake of writing and connecting and for having a non-income generating platform for my own writing.

And then I realized that with all the problems I have with many mom blogs out there - I am tethered to quite a few of them despite myself.  Granted these are story-telling blogs, whether or not there are ads and whether or not there are plugs for someone’s own products or the products of others.

I abandoned having a blog roll long ago, even though I love finding new reading material on lists of other bloggers.  So here are ten mom blogs that I like to read, for whatever reason.  Some of these women? I’ve been reading them for four years or maybe more.  I read them because I met them or I feel like I have.  Others craft a great story.  Still more write short enough posts (yay for short posts) that it’s no skin off my key-tapping fingers to see what they are up to and it is usually interesting.  I do not gravitate toward single mom blogs - or blogs of moms with teens - or Jewish moms.  I’m drawn to sites that either show me something new or remind me of something old.

So while I do chop down mom blogs in my mind, and in public, I’m still a rampant fan of many.

Indulge in a few of these when you have free time:

Sassafrass
Jess is a Chicago divorced mom like me. She’s hip, loves shoes and writes a mean streak about all things mama.

Blogs Are Stupid
Blog Antagonist is one of the best writers on the interweb, hands down. She’s working full-time now so she’s not posting daily but you could chomp on her archives for weeks and never go hungry.

Chicky Chicky Baby
I read Tania not because I can’t remember ever not reading her blog, but because she is an honest, loving, harried and hassled mom of two little girls. She keeps the big picture in mind but shares the details - and is always on-target.

Thinking About
J’s blog is only a mom blog because she’s a mom. She writes about her life as Maya’s mom, but she writes beautiful posts about everything from her dog (ok, the dog writes the posts), restaurants, books, life in general and she posts the best recipes.

We All Fall Down
Cindy doesn’t post often but when she decides to write it’s worth reading. Always. There’s an air of sensibility and a lack of frivolity — although it’s always fun, easy to read and thought provoking.

I have 19 mom blogs on Google Reader and I like them all. I’m much more vested in the writing, editing and publishing blogs out there and they greatly outnumber the mom blogs. I’m a cynic when it comes to diary-like blogs and the ones that pitch products for breakfast — but it was good to recall and share the a few of the mom blogs that do make me smile.

Often.

Who’s on your list?