Because loving your child is a given, but loving motherhood isn’t.
The birth of momblogging coincided with my becoming a mom.
Cloying blogs clogged the web, as peppy new moms flaunted curated versions of motherhood.
I pushed back with Crabmommy: a darkly comic look at new momhood.
FLAVOR:
tart, sharp, bold
Sardonic, tongue-in-cheek, sharp but real. Satire was my weapon of choice against banal mom-upmanship. In my momblog manifesto I made a pact with my readers: to never count my blessings (online); to mock myself as well as others; and to tell the truth about the tough parts of parenting. Called “delightfully bilious” by Ayelet Waldman in her memoir Bad Mother, Crabmommy aimed to use humor as a force for good, and to connect with moms who felt disconnected.
MEAT
Instead of Meal Plan Monday, I had Dollar Store Tuesday, in which I bought crap food from the Dollar Store and made hideous meals. Instead of tips on how to make the perfect organic felt toys for your tots, I had Cheapmommy Crafts—my tampon wiener went viral. My monthly Momoscope—Astromommy—warned moms about the trials to come. While always humor-inflected, I also took on pithier cultural critiques of childrearing trends, interviewed psychologists, reviewed books, and debunked myths with the help of sane professionals.
JUICE
I leveraged my personal blog into a spinoff for Condé Nast’s Cookie magazine, where I was the principal parent blogger. Crabmommy lived for 5 years, comprised hundreds of posts, and was syndicated by Yahoo. My crabby online persona led to guest spots and features at Glamour.com, DesignMom, Cup of Jo, Babble, Etsy, and others.