12-03-2006
The Blogging Parent
That’s me ![]()
It’s 6:30, and my three-year-old is freshly in bed. I immediately hotfooted it down to my computer.
That’s when I realized how parenting, blogging and work deadlines really shape the pattern of my days.
During the day, my time is divided between working on deadlines and taking care of my son, D. I’m lucky, because my husband is a martial arts instructor, so he’s home during the days (except on days when he has his day classes, and then he’s back by the afternoon) and we get to split the parenting duties. That gives me time to get a lot of my deadlines off my desk during the day, and still “be there” for D.
D goes to nursery school three mornings a week, and I’ll occasionally do some blogging then, too. But looking over my “routine”, I see that I normally try not to blog when he’s around.
I’m not sure why that is.
Anyway, I’m usually itching to get to my blogging by the time D’s bedtime rolls around. He goes to bed every night at 6:00 p.m., and that’s when my “blogging shift” tends to begin. I’ll usually blog for a bit, get some more deadline stuff done, then finish the night off with more blogging.. (I do the dinner thing somewhere in there, too.)
The really nice thing about being a working blogger is that blogging is so flexible (unless you’re blogging anywhere where timely “beat-the-press” posts are a requirement, of course).
I’m going to be spending more time blogging in the new year, probably during the day and not just at night, and it will be interesting to see how blogging will be like when D’s around. With my deadlines, I can usually stop what I’m doing to go (1) get more juice, (2) get more cookies or pretzels, (3) take a look at a picture, (4) draw, paint or build blocks, (5) play a short game or (6) change the occasional diaper (my husband and I take turns).
I do tend to get into a “blogging rhythm” where I throw up post after post, but I’m sure it will be just as easy to take time for these kid-interactions when I’m blogging as it is when I’m working on my other work.
(And if not, I’ll just start posting “Argggh!!” here.)
Any other parenting probloggers out there? I’d be interested to know how you handle blogging when your kids are around!
Technorati Tags: blogging parent, working at home, blogging at home









December 4th, 2006 at 8:19 am
Your husband should blog about martial arts. It’s a huge niche with major viral multimedia potential.
December 4th, 2006 at 9:13 am
The only time I really try to use the computer when the kids are around is when they are watching TV. I normally do most of my writing during breaks at work or after the kids go to bed. My New Year’s resolution is going to be building a queue of posts instead of posting as soon as I write something.
December 4th, 2006 at 12:41 pm
I’ve been trying to talk my husband into blogging about the martial arts all this year. He feels he’s not really much of a writer, but you know, the “multimedia” aspect about it just got me thinking. He’s a great speaker - I think that’s why he teaches so well - and podcasting would be right up his alley. Thanks for the tip in the right direction, Mike!
December 4th, 2006 at 12:43 pm
I always have this little ongoing resolution in the back of my mind to write a bunch of posts and queue them for gradual posting, but it’s funny - somehow it just never seems to pan out that way! If you get into that kind of a rhythm, Mike, it would be lovely to read about it. It’s something I definitely need to work on.
December 4th, 2006 at 3:34 pm
My 6 year old started kindergarten this year so that has been a tremendous help!
I do house stuff/errands and as much work as I can while they are all at school. Then we do homework/bath/dinner/story time. Now that you mention it I seem to do all my blogging at night too
Most of my work still gets done late night after everything else is done and I feel more relaxed knowing so. I have to work on this scheduling for the new year to make it more productive.
But I have paid jobs and my own business so finding a balance can be tricky at times. Thankfully my Husband is very helpful with most things and he owns his own business so he is home fairly early each day.