The Mother of All Parenting Blogs: Reader Survey Results

If you think back -- way back -- to around the beginning of school, you might remember that I conducted a reader survey, to get your thoughts on The Mother of All Parenting Blogs.

I have always seen this blog as our blog. I may be the one doing the writing, but you're the one who is reading, commenting, and carrying on the discussion on your blog (or talking about fascinating things on your blog that trigger a discussion on this blog). Without your involvement, I might as well be writing on a typewriter.

What you told me

I didn't get an overwhelming number of responses (five doesn't qualify as overwhelming to a mom of four), but I found the feedback very helpful nonetheless.

Here are a few highlights. (Note: Click on image for a larger version of each graph.)

This question said: I would enjoy the following types of blog posts. (Choose as many as you'd like.)

  

I learned from the responses to this post that no single type of post is going to be of interest to all my readers. That means I need to ensure that I'm taking a buffet approach to blogging: lots of variety.

That said, some types of posts have greater appeal than others.

What you want:

• Research updates on topics related to parenting/family;
• this week's hot parenting discussions/news (with links);
• useful links and other useful resources (by topic/theme);
• parenting and pop culture info (books, movies, TV, etc.)

You're less interested in slice-of-life reflections on life as a parent.

All but one reader gave a thumbs' down to interviews with parents and parenting experts. (Maybe the online interview format has run its course -- or maybe too many online interviews have turned out to be advertorials in disguise. Interesting.)

The next question asked you to check off as many statements as applied to your situation.

 

The answers to this question were also revealing. I learned that while the majority of my readers are parents, others read my blog for work-related reasons. (Interesting!)

The key life-stages that you are most interested in are (from greatest interest to least interest)

• babies and school-aged kids;
• toddlers and preschoolers;
• preteens; and
• starting a family and pregnancy.

The survey may be finished, but your comments on the blog are always welcome. (If I happened to do the survey during a week when your life was (extra) busy, please feel free to have your say below.)

In the next post, I'll be introducing some exciting plans for a blog makeover. Feel free to comment there, too.

Thanks for being part of my blog community: for reading this blog and/or taking time to hang out with me on Twitter (@themotherofall or @anndouglas) or comment here, as your busy life allows.

Comments

[Wesley Austin]

Have you had occasion to address same sex and/or transgendered parents? I'm the transgender parent of a 4yr old boy and my partner and i are struggling to ensure that my transition is presented in terms he will understand.

[Ann Douglas]

I haven't addressed that issue. It's a great suggestion for a topic. You might get in touch with the Association for Research in Mothering to see if they have any resources: http://yorku.ca/arm They have held conferences on a variety of issues and published anthologies on a variety of topics. They also are plugged into a huge number of networks across North America. I hope this helps.