I’m delighted to introduce a first ever guest post on Office Mum this week; Kate Gunn is a mother, blogger and freelancer. She spent her 20’s travelling, her 30’s getting married and having babies, and is now hitting her 40’s newly single and back living in her old home town in Co. Wicklow. You can find her at Kate Takes 5 or on Facebook.
I joined the world of motherhood over ten years ago now, and the world of blogging when my eldest had just turned six.
The thing I loved about both new worlds on entering them was the diversity of people involved, and also the levelling of each and every one of them. It doesn’t matter how much money you earn, who you know or what you look like – if your baby hasn’t slept in three months you need someone, anyone, to lean on and talk to.
As a new mum in a new town I desperately reached out for new friends, and before long found myself having a coffee morning with two women – an ex-hollywood actress and a busy nurse who was on maternity leave. The shared journey of motherhood and all that entailed brought us closer in six short months than six years of village acquaintance or office banter could have. In fact, truth be told, I would probably never have met or talked to either of these wonderful women if we had not had babies of the same age.
My entry into the realms of blogging was fairly similar. I joined up – struggling and clueless, but before long I was sharing tips and talks with a middle-aged housewife in Australia and a reluctant housedad in London.
And that is the great thing about life online as a parent. It’s like an extreme version of motherhood and friendship in the real world. We share with each other our frustrations, our fears, our failures and our successes, and we soon come to the realisation that although we are a hugely diverse bunch, deep down we are very alike. There’s an amazing insight into humanity there that we often don’t stop to think about.
Over the past four years of reading and writing blogs, and of joining online groups and forums, I’ve come to know mothers and fathers from all walks of life. Country, status, education, religion are all brushed aside. In any one day online I’m as likely to ask advice from a young mum surviving on benefits in a council estate in Manchester to a ‘yummy mummy’ in London’s Notting hill, and I’ll probably be sharing stories with an office mum in Dublin whilst chatting to a Llama farmer in Offaly.
How wonderful to live our mothering lives in a world as diverse and reachable as that!
So whilst motherhood is often hard, and the internet is in no way a panacea for it’s trials and tribulations – I consider all of us so lucky to have it there at the end of our fingertips.
We just have to remember to press the close button sometimes and visit those real life friends too…
For more from this ever interesting and entertaining writer, go to Kate Takes 5 or find her on Facebook.
Thanks Kate for guest-posting!
Fantastic post Kate! The internet really has opened up new doors for meeting people and learning things, especially as a new mammy – for me, its been educator, therapist and a useful tool for calming myself down about what is normal and what isn’t, especially as I’m the first of my friends to have babies. The ability to connect with so many people from different places with different experiences is important for learning as you go, it’s a fantastic ability and it makes me wonder how my mother and hers before her managed without it!
Lisa- Four Walls, Rainy Days recently posted…It’s okay to not be okay
That’s so true Lisa. And as a first time mum when your friends aren’t there yet the internet really is invaluable. Also because in general people are a lot more dispersed from their families nowadays it definitely helps to fill that gap. Thanks for your lovely comment 🙂
Kate Takes 5 (@KateTakes5) recently posted…Change4Life Sugar Swaps Challenge – Could you do it?
Yes, both “worlds” are great levellers. I often think that too, how my mother managed without the internet! Just lovely to read Kate Gunn’s sage words.
First time I’ve every been called sage Joanna! (And most probably the last too).
Kate Takes 5 (@KateTakes5) recently posted…Change4Life Sugar Swaps Challenge – Could you do it?
They say it takes a village to raise a child, and often in our little nuclear families we’ve lost that village. My extended family are all in Ireland and I am in the UK. Having the access to Mothers online, gives us the essence of that village and is so much needed. Beautiful post Kate. A few months ago my best friend and her husband and 4 year old was here for 4 days, and we shared the responsibility for cooking and childcare and it gave me a glimpse of what those ancient villages would have been like. So much less stressful, so much less isolating. If the online village even gives us some of that, even if it is mental company rather than physical it is so so worth it – thanks for the reminder x
Liska @NewMumOnline recently posted…Saving for a Baby