parenting in the digital age

I’ve been a mother (if you count pregnancy, which you do, of course) for about eight years. I’ve been a blogger for over half that time, and I’ve been active on Twitter and Facebook since about a year after I started blogging.

That said, this question was posed: How has the technological age changed parenting for you?

I love this question. It fascinates me. I mean, pretty much every parent I know is involved online in one way or another. We’re tweeting or updating facebook or writing and/or reading blogs. We’re talking about this bumpy road of bringing up humans and we’re gaining avenues to different perspectives every day. We have answers at our fingertips every second of every day. We have smart phones and smart notebooks and smart computers and smart laptops…(For real, they’re all smarter than I am.) We are taking in a lot of information about parenting, especially if we’re in the mom blogging world and we’re paying attention at all. I mean, it only took most of us about five seconds, by way of tweets or facebook or blogs, to become a part of the conversation about the recent Time cover story with the mother breastfeeding her toddler. And that’s just one example in thousands.

Everywhere you go there’s a link, my friends. And then another and another and before you know it you’re tired and so you’re on Pinterest trying to decide if you’d ever be able to make a homemade chocolate cake shaped like a dinosaur the size of your kitchen for the birthday party that starts at 2 p.m. that day because look at it! It’s amazing! (No? Just me? Okay.) (Yes, you’re right. This is exactly when I know it’s time to walk.away.)

I guess what I’m saying is that the technological world we live in can be as overwhelming as it is good. (And sometimes bad. I mean, you’ve read the judgmental posts and comments about parenting as well…bad.)

Even though that’s true–that the online world we live in can be overwhelming and bad? Please don’t take away my fellow social media parents. They have taught me a lot and many of them care about my family in a genuine way that makes my heart all swell-y.

We have friends and family who love us right here in our corner of the world, but we never for a second disregard the positive ways the digital age has supported our parenting journey. There have been middle of the night posts and tweets that have been met with “I’m here” in the midst of Asher’s diagnosis and brain surgery, and there is an army of sober mothers to cheer me on when I struggle. There is an even bigger army of you who walk through the ordinary and extraordinary things of our everyday lives and that is simply so good, these touch-points that pull me through the hours of long days. You are all “there” and it’s a comfort that I appreciate more than I can say. Many of you have even become friends that I actually call on the actual telephone. You may be sorry you ever gave out your numbers (Hiiiii, it’s me again, whatcha doin?…Oh I just needed to hear the voice of a person over seven…again…), but there you have it, you’ve become my motherhood sister posse, and you are like air.

Besides, where else could I put out a mass S.O.S. about a child’s poop problem and get so many helpful answers so fast? Nowhere but the Internets, my friends. There are some really wise and experienced parents out there, and they know a lot about poop issues and a million other things.

I do the best I can to balance my time online in a way that’s healthy. I suppose a person could take it or leave it, but I’m not going anywhere. I love to spend a little time here with you and then, you know, I gotta hit the road and have adventures with the people we’re always talking about…

Do you think the digital age has changed the way that you parent? If so, how? 

(You can answer this question here or over at mom.me. If you write a post on your own blog in response, you can add a link to that post in a comment at mom.me and be entered to win one of FIVE $250 P&G gift baskets!)

mom.me is a space to spend your social media time with all your favorite parenting information all in one place. I love that it keeps me in the loop on trending topics, too. mom.me doesn’t disappoint in creativity with suggestions on ways to bring your digital photos to life and features on the best one-piece swimsuits, to name just a couple of examples. (There is no way I’m wearing a two-piece ever again. Just so you know.)

{This is a sponsored post through P & G, and yet, the opinions and thoughts are solely my very own.}