Word Use
I've noticed there are a ton of self styled "mommy" blogs out there. I'm not talking about all the one ones that say they are stay at home mothers or the home schooling bloggers, but all the women who identify themselves as "mommy." This disturbs me.
I understand that there has been a cultural backlash of angry children who grew up with two parents (or just one parent) too busy working and trying to do everything. As adults they swore that they would never put their children in those situations. They don't want children raised by a nanny. I get this. I don't see it as always the most realistic goal in a time where it is getting increasingly harder for any family to survive on one income, but I can see that people want to put their children first.
I have a semantic problem.
Mother is an adult word and mom is often used as a brief version of that word. Mom and Mother are almost interchangeable when it comes to connotations. The only real differences I can see around them are from pop culture and really have no bearing on the meaning ascribed to the terms. (Mother reminds me of the movie Psycho
and Mom gets inked on a biker's fore arm). A woman who says she is a Mother or Mom first is proclaiming that her most important job and focus is raising her children.
"Mommy," on the other hand, is what the child calls the parent. Mommy has almost super human powers. Mommy is the font of all that is good. Mommy is the giver of cookies the kisser of ouchies and the fixer of broken stuffed animals.
A mother can do all of these things for her children, but at the end of the day she is an adult working hard for her children where as a "mommy" is a child's vision of an adult. She is unrealistic and by proclaiming herself as such to the outside world she takes on child like qualities to the observing parties.
Now if our society were a little less patriarchal, I would probably come across a lot of self proclaimed "daddy" blogs. As it is now, woman are usually the ones at home with the children and part of what used to be covered with school mother groups and area moms groups is being taken on by the internet. So no we see resources for the stay at home mother. We see tons of information one home schooling. Now , unfortunately, the bon bon eating and Oprah watching segment of the population has found the internet and they all tell each other what wonderful "mommies" they all are.
As I've transgressed into the area of commenting one aspect of the female population I feel the need (aka Catholic Guilt is coming down hard on me) to right the imbalance with a number of post deriding aspects of male living. All suggestions will be considered.
More Laters
I understand that there has been a cultural backlash of angry children who grew up with two parents (or just one parent) too busy working and trying to do everything. As adults they swore that they would never put their children in those situations. They don't want children raised by a nanny. I get this. I don't see it as always the most realistic goal in a time where it is getting increasingly harder for any family to survive on one income, but I can see that people want to put their children first.
I have a semantic problem.
Mother is an adult word and mom is often used as a brief version of that word. Mom and Mother are almost interchangeable when it comes to connotations. The only real differences I can see around them are from pop culture and really have no bearing on the meaning ascribed to the terms. (Mother reminds me of the movie Psycho
and Mom gets inked on a biker's fore arm). A woman who says she is a Mother or Mom first is proclaiming that her most important job and focus is raising her children.
"Mommy," on the other hand, is what the child calls the parent. Mommy has almost super human powers. Mommy is the font of all that is good. Mommy is the giver of cookies the kisser of ouchies and the fixer of broken stuffed animals.
A mother can do all of these things for her children, but at the end of the day she is an adult working hard for her children where as a "mommy" is a child's vision of an adult. She is unrealistic and by proclaiming herself as such to the outside world she takes on child like qualities to the observing parties.
Now if our society were a little less patriarchal, I would probably come across a lot of self proclaimed "daddy" blogs. As it is now, woman are usually the ones at home with the children and part of what used to be covered with school mother groups and area moms groups is being taken on by the internet. So no we see resources for the stay at home mother. We see tons of information one home schooling. Now , unfortunately, the bon bon eating and Oprah watching segment of the population has found the internet and they all tell each other what wonderful "mommies" they all are.
As I've transgressed into the area of commenting one aspect of the female population I feel the need (aka Catholic Guilt is coming down hard on me) to right the imbalance with a number of post deriding aspects of male living. All suggestions will be considered.
More Laters
posted by Rich Rosenthal II at 4:21 AM
8 Comments:
"deriding aspects of male living." -shouldn't be a problem, there are so many possibilities.
Ha ha ha, I crack myself up.
Just kidding. It's all good.
Oooh Daddy..spank me harder!
My sister-in-law still calls her Mom "Mommy". She's 36. It's very, very disturbing.
I bet If I went into my rant about how many claim they "gave it all up" to be a mommy I might have raised some hairs. people tend to gloss over the idea that not only did the give up good things like money, power and esteem, but they give up a lot of the stress of the work a day life too. yes the homelife can be stressful, but their are many men and women out there who just dont function well in the workplace for whom giving it all up is a good thing.
I really thought the bon bon + oprah thing would have angered a few people. I spent a bit of the day gaining credits on blog explostion where many of the mommy blogs congrigate to seee how they would react. Psychologival experiment a failure.
Terrific point about Mother/Mom = Adult vs. Mommy = Child's Font of that is Good. I never knew why that hip new word made me want to puke -- now I do.
Check this one out. http://www.beingdaddy.com/
It's a bonafide daddy blog.
I guess people choose to refer to themselves as mommy and daddy online (creepy though it may be) because that is their current identity (to themselves). I think we play/fullfill different roles at different points in our life. Some people focus solely on being career men or women for decades and others will spend a few decades being mommy, then float back in to careers when the kids are too old to say mommy.Some people juggle many roles because they can't afford to miss anything or don't want to. You are right though, all the terms 'mom', 'mother' and 'mommy' have their connotations. Maybe I'll continue to think of myself as the parental unit.
Kim
http://bradley.chicago.il.us/kim/
p.s. Wanna be really weirded out? Do a search on baby blogs.
No! Nooooooo! I wont and you can't make me! Baby blogs? Today my little darling made her first spit bubble. Heres a picture. awwwwww. Look It's the first poo. Awwwww. Ick.
i'd say i'd grow up and stop doing this, but i still call my dad, daddy. he is the fixer of broken appliances, automobiles, leaky faucets, and the "do you want me to have him killed or maimed" for broken hearted daughters. anyway, good point about the y ending creating a super human meaning.
Post a Comment
<< Home