I recently attended the Ragan Marketing Unconference in Chicago. The event was an open conversation about the world of social media. I heard the term, ‘mommy blogger’ at least once per hour – and this was a conference about social media how-tos, not marketing to women. The term, and how it was used, gave me the visual of herding cattle to pasture. As a blogger who doesn’t have children, but engages with bloggers who do, I think it’s time to unravel the term, ‘mommy blogger’.

I do not have the privilege of being a mother just yet, but I must say, I have a pretty fantastic mom. I also have friends who are moms. I also work with moms. They are executives, professors, supply chain managers, boutique owners, PR managers and domestic divas. Some of these mom friends do indeed write – a lot. Oh sure, they may write about the surprising things their one year old said or share some family recipes, but they also write about politics, historic happenings in Europe or other topics that stimulate their intellect on any given day. They write. They happen to have children, too.

Joanne Bamberger writes about politics.
Stefania Pomponi Butler writes about food, raising her kids in a multi-cultural environment, pop culture and politics.
Tracey Gaughran-Perez writes about music (and recently wrote a piece about no longer calling herself a mom blogger).

This leads me to the recent influx of articles and media around the topic of ‘mommy bloggers’. I’m disappointed to see some of the most respected publications have not taken the time to really get to know these women. What makes them tick? What topics and issues do they care about most (aside from calling out the free Wii they received)? What amazing connections have they made as a result of their writing? Did they know that their background was steeped in education or that they were political pundits?

The industry doesn’t realize that blogging mothers are discussing some poignant, real topics that matter to multiple groups – not just fellow mothers. These articles are living next to posts about new baby gear, product reviews, etc., but they continue to grow in number. Let’s hope that the next reports we see on the increase of ‘mommy blogger’s includes these key findings.

When the day comes that I have kids, I will continue to blog, but think twice before calling yours truly a ‘mommy blogger’.