More on mommy blogs

"The world's most thankless occupation, parenthood, has never inspired so much copy," reported the New York Times in last Sunday's Style section, not painting a wholly pretty picture of parents chronicling their family life in the some 8,500 blogs of this nature. "For the generation that begat reality television it seems that there is not a tale from the crib (no matter how mundane or scatological) that is unworthy of narration." Actually, writer David Hochman says, these blogs are not so much online baby scrapbooks as "online shrines to parental self-absorption." And he cites a psychologist's view that this is one way we overcome that feeling of being invisible that comes over newcomers to the parenting experience. One mom said her blog, and all the emails responding to it, helped her get past postpartum depression faster. Hochman links to plenty of examples of daddy and mommy blogs, including one or two that have spawned books. Here's a great *group* blog called DotMoms - nothing like a little mommy and daddy solidarity! And a previous item I ran on baby blogs and a reader/daddy blogger's response.