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Mummy Bloggers, Mumpreneurs…Mum’s the Word (Or Not…)

I was on Twitter this morning and saw this tweet:

It immediately resonated with me. I’ve heard the term ‘mumpreneur’ banded around the internet recently. I presume it means mothers who have their own businesses. If the truth be told, I don’t really understand the need for the term. Is ‘entrepreneur’ not good enough? Why is it necessary to add the additional label of ‘mum’ to the title? Do men go around calling themselves ‘Dadpreneurs’? Is this whole conversation a total waste of time?

Here is my two cents…

This post has been brewing in my head for a while now. A few months ago, through various circumstances, I happened to ask a friend from a PR company if I could blog about my experiences related to some reviews I was doing for them. She enthusiastically said something like “Yes, that would be great…we have a lot of Mummy Bloggers who we work with.” I smiled and nodded and mumbled something back politely, but my mind was racing.

I’m not a Mummy Blogger (whatever that is). I’m a writer and blogger. I happen to be a mum too. I sometimes write about family issues. I work from home.

Do all of these things make someone a ‘Mummy Blogger’? Is the distinction because I have kids? If so, why aren’t all those writers and journalists out there with kids called ‘Mummy Writer’ or ‘Mummy Journalist’? I really don’t get it. Is it because I work from home? My husband sometimes works from home. I’ve never heard anyone call him a ‘Daddy Microscopist’ or ‘Daddy Scientist’. The whole thing got me thinking. Maybe it was just me being sensitive. After all, one of the hardest parts of adjusting to being a stay-at-home parent for me was re-defining my identity as a WHOLE person. Yes, I had become a mother, but that wasn’t ALL of who I was. Not by a long shot.

Every now and then this idea of the ‘Mummy Blogger’ swirled around in my head again, and a few weeks ago, I decided to do a little informal poll on my Facebook page. I asked:

These are some of the responses:

Instinctively, though unjustifiably, Hobby.
10 May at 12:57

A hobby by a mum stuck at home and wishing she was elsewhere, so trying to make herself appear to still have a brain
10 May at 13:10

I agree with the above – hobby!
10 May at 16:36

Hmmm…clearly I wasn’t the only person who thought this way.
Then I asked:

Unsurprisingly, the answers were:

Much more seriously, sounds very professional
10 May at 16:52

I agree, it sounds far more professional – which is what you are
10 May at 19:01

These were answers from non-bloggers… Average people who are not necessarily ‘up on the lingo’. But maybe they are? I don’t actually know how internet savvy they are.

Now, please, PLEASE, don’t get me wrong….I DO NOT HAVE A PROBLEM WITH MUMMY BLOGGERS OR MUMPRENEURS (if you’re talking about the people). I love them, I respect them, I applaud their work. I just have a problem with the terminology of the labels. In fact, as a result of the initial Mummy Blogger comment, I happened to find some fantastic communities of bloggers (who are Mums) that I hadn’t even known existed before. I have loved getting to know all of these fantastic women.

But I still stand by what I say…these are women. Yes, they write and blog. Yes, they do it from home. Yes, they have kids. I still wouldn’t call them ‘Mummy Bloggers’. The only way I would accept that title is if they were writing EXCLUSIVELY about mothering issues. Maybe then I would associate that person as a ‘Mummy Blogger’.

But then again…maybe not…

How about you? What do you think about Mumpreneurs and Mummy Bloggers? Have you ever even heard the terms before? Would you see them as professionals or hobbyists?

I’d love to hear your opinions on this!

P.S.
Thanks to Alice and Sally, for giving me the courage to ‘out’ myself on this topic! You ladies rock!