When I made the decision to leave my career to care full time for my daughter, I was not the least bit prepared for the intense and overwhelming sense of isolation that would follow. It was a difficult transition.
If only I’d had Jacksonville Moms Blog!
I desperately needed to feel connected. Fortunately, through blogging and social media over the past several years, I have gained a new network. And at any given time, I can get online and communicate with other moms.
The value of that cannot be measured.
The Internet offers an unprecedented opportunity for women to connect. With over 32 million moms online today, many spending as many as 24 hours a week, some have more Internet interactions than real life ones.
For the most part, the online experience is a positive one. The Internet serves as a wonderful source of information and support for many moms. But there is a dark side.
It has also given the so-called “Mommy Wars” new life, and the conflict has spread far beyond the traditional work or stay at home debate. Today, every parenting decision a woman makes leaves her open to attack, and there are no winners.
There are individuals and groups of women who engage in sustained, deliberate attempts to hurt or humiliate other individuals or groups of women via the Internet over different parenting philosophies. I see it every day.
October is National Bullying Prevention Awareness Month. We hear a lot about bullying among our children and youth in the news these days. But few people realize it happens regularly among adults. I am working to change that.
I do not believe we will ever succeed in helping our children with the problem of bullying until and unless we take a hard look at adult attitudes and behaviors. That is why I launched The Mom Pledge.
The Pledge is for any mom who spends time on the Internet. It is a set of principles women commit to following in all their online activities. At The Mom Pledge Community, we believe in treating other moms with respect, even when we have different ideas about how to raise our children.
The tone we set online translates to attitudes and behaviors our children can see. And we all know they learn from our actions more than our words. We want to set the right example, and would love to have you join us!
