There's a little bit of competitiveness in every industry and profession - especially the publishing industry. Bidding on images, exclusive articles, the newest news, the sauciest interviews, the most in-depth report, best coverage - it's there. Enter digital and there are loads of different bloggers that all blog for different reasons and some do share news and exclusive content, but parenting blogs generally don't. There isn't and shouldn't be any competitiveness in this genre at all and there mostly isn't.
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Moms who blog generally want to share and cherish their memories, document their children's lives or build a memoir of their life as a family. We're not here to be the first to break the news on BPA-free bottles and other irrelevancies. There's no competition, unless you're all "my kid was crawling at 6 weeks and yours wasn't" which is weird either way. Over the past few years I've built, broken, rebuilt and created relationships with some of South Africa's very finest moms who also blog. We've argued over birth, hospitals, platforms, pictures, events. We've celebrated, we've joint hands to support charities and projects close to our hearts and we'd shared each other's milestones.
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Some of these bloggers have become best, close friends with one another in real life. I've met and hung out with most of these gals as a lot of us work in media, PR and publishing. Sometimes we work on the same campaigns together, and a few of us whatsapp each other until midnight over our lives, concerns and sometimes just to have an innocent little skinner. We tweet each other at 2am when our kids have woken up, we support each other's blogs, writing, new businesses and parenting obstacles. It's strange and sort of wonderful how these friendships form over the years - and how we all have little nicks and cuts from the industry that we share too. Mostly we all love to write, share, document and communicate the little otherwise ordinary moments of our precious lives.
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I often get asked by brands, friends and readers to share a few of my other favorite South African blogs that write about parenting. I know that you'll grow to love these women as much as I do - and you'll notice how extremely unique and original each of these blogs are -with their own voice, message and creative presence. Thanks for being on my reading list girls - and thanks for keeping it real. In no particular order, these are my top twelve moms who blog in South Africa (including me because I like my own blog sometimes too!)
Vanessa is a gorgeous, talented and really good person & mommy. She is a photographer, mother and a creative. She does styling too, and her favourite subject is her picturesque daughter, Nina - Noah's future bride (against both their wills, I don't care) Her website, children's photography and style is so Alice in Wonderland meets Wes Anderson meets Michel Gondry. Have fun getting lost.
Stacey is a brilliant writer and also a great person with a good heart. She is definitely my writing muse, and I love everything about her blog. An extract about her: Stacey Vee’s been doing this media shizzle for 13 years, and likes to brag that back when her boobs were perky she worked for FHM. No, she did not wear a bikini to the office. Why do people always ask that?
She started the Living Lionheart blog when her eldest son Travis was born with a rare brain malformation called Septo Optic Dysplasia. That’s the long medical name. The ‘sexy’ name is De Morsier syndrome. But there’s nothing sexy about raising a child with special needs.
This is me! Hi. I work in social media by profession and I have a background in writing, tv production, public relations, picture & video editing. I have folders filled with unfinished novels, boxes of hand-written journals and an embarrassing box of written and published poems. I love writing, communicating and I'm painfully sentimental. Our family is not perfect, but we love each other. So much.
I love Nicki. I've not loved her, but I've always liked her. We've had silly arguments as mothers, but we always find a way back in to each other's inbox. Her blog is fantastic and her heart is softer than the inside of turkish delights. She really is the darling of the mommy bloggers!
Her bio: Tattooed wife to David, mum to Luca & Mika, digital marketing & social media gal, full-time Gleek, part-time blogger, Wine Gum addict & eternal optimist.I am pretty much an open book. I wear my heart on my sleeve and give EVERYONE the benefit of the doubt. I am naive like that, and it has bitten me in the ass once or twice. But that’s who I am … I’ll love you till you give me a reason not to. My husband, best friend and partner-in-crime, David. The poker playing, Croatian attorney … seriously. I love him to bits, even though there are moments in our lives when we’d both like to strangle one another. But that’s life! I've always believed that something (or someone) worth fighting for is what you really want in life.
She is funny, wise, witty and sarcastic. Follow her everywhere you can for your daily fix of chirps and thoughts. From her bio: I am mother to The Kid. He was born in November 2007. I’d moved up to Joburg to start my second degree (a Masters’ degree in Public Law) and fell pregnant a month after moving out of my fathers’ house. Needless to say my dad was charmed. Not. But, even though The Kid was unplanned, he’s totally changed my life for the better. And I have absolutely no complaints about being his mom.
Oh Cath how I've loved getting to know you. Cath is incredibly real, honest and caring. She is a professional writer and has all the talents you wish you had. She's a Media Consultant. Writer. Columnist. Mama. Loves clever mondegreens & a good meme. She lives in Durban, works everywhere - it's called the Internet. She holds a Bachelors’ Degree in Communications and English. You'll love her blog - it's from the heart and soul of her fingertips.
Sharon is a great writer and a very real and great mom. Her bio: Wife to Walter. Mom to Ava and Hannah. Lover of food, wine and a good time with my family and friends, I was once broken and barren but now I am beautifully blessed. After 7 years of battling with infertility and recurrent pregnancy loss which included 2 surgeries, countless timed and medicated cycles, numerous IUI’s (Inter Uterine Insemination’s) 4 fresh IVF’s (Invitro Fertilization), one Frozen Embryo Transfer & 7 first trimester miscarriages, I finally became a mother after my husband and I decided to pursue adoption.This is their story, with their two beautiful daughters - Hannah and Ava.
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I've always loved Celeste's blog. I found it when I was expecting Benjamin and her blog managed to articulate a lot of what I was feeling at the time. She is hauntingly real and extremely funny without trying at all. Her bio: I often think somehow I am faking my way through the day, and that someone is going to realise that I am actually still fifteen years old. I live in Cape Town, and work in print and production. I juggle three children, and work full time – some days better than others.
I struggle with depression and an anxiety disorder – presently not on medication, but take each day as it comes. well, that idea worked until it didn’t. Late June 2011, I opted back on to as much medication as my pharmacist and friendly pill doctor would legally allow. I hate jazz, with a passion I cannot describe.
Jenty is a telented and professional photographer, geek, friend and a very busy mom of two. Her bio: I'm a Jozi mom of 2 boys with too many things on my plate. This is my space to try and make sense of all those things and tell stories (with loads of photos) about the places we've been and what we've seen and done. Her photographs are beautiful and her soul is good - follow Jeanette for a beautiful documentation and inspirational photo projects.
Fee has become a friend of mine through our comments as I started on this blogging adventure. She's sweet, her kids are amazing and her family is so real. She's always there for you, she's so down to earth and she still has a pair of my sunglasses that I forgot at a party. Her bio: I’m a Joburg girl who plays the role of mom, wife, software tester, amateur photographer and aspiring blogger all wrapped into one. “Remember when” has given me the opportunity to do the things I love best, being nostalgic and capturing moments in time. I want to live for today but I want to leave something behind for tomorrow. I want this blog to be a peep hole into our life. A souvenir. A token. A keepsake of our everyday life.
She is a brilliant writer and you have to give her blog a read. Our kids are just about the same age with the same age gap, and she is the nicest person. Her bio: "What doesn't kill you makes you funnier," as the great philosopher Keyes observed. (Nah, the other one. You know, *Marian* Keyes...) I am 37 years old and mother to King Felix and Prince Richie.
Also ex-digital publisher of magazine brands' online incarnations, ex-magazine editor, ex-moviegoer, ex-drink-enough-wine-to-become-hysterically-animated,-inappropriately-divulging-and-then-maudlin person, ex-stay-awake-beyond-midnighter.
Now I try to navigate my way through parenthood, and living in the hecticness that is Joburg and South Africa. I DO succumb to the odd rant about politics, crime and social issues too...
Kathryn's blog is a great resource for lists, info, events, travel, news, venues and all things parenting! She's a lovely person and we often bump in to each other at media events here in the Cape Town. Becoming You is about inspiration and her journey of discovering herself and her little space to be something other than someone's mom.
Guys there are LOADS of other parenting blogs - there are literally thousands. I hope that you like this list that I put together of some of the nicest, most popular mommy blogs in South Africa with good readerships and relationships. I consider each of these a friend and I hope that you enjoy getting to know them too - right here on the internets. I'm sorry if I left anyone out - this really is just my personal little list of blogs that I've somehow bonded with over the past three years. I work in PR by profession, and these gals are a pleasure to work with too. Happy reading and I'll create another list soon - there really are that many great parents that blog! x
