Pay it Forward!

So I had the good pleasure to be listed in Dad vs Autism's post called "Pay it Forward", where he listed 5 bloggers that are important to him. And he said some really wonderful things about us here at SLMother! This was well timed praise.

The idea behind "Pay it Forward Friday" is that I now take a turn to return the favor, telling all of you about the blogs that have influenced me, helped me, or made me laugh. I want to showcase to you my blogging friends who have helped me and guided me and supported me as I've been growing. These are good people. And they also write.

So first, I will tell you about Dad vs Autism, who nominated me. Here is one of his posts that I liked a lot. He often comments and supports and relates to my blog, which makes me feel good. He talks about life, and getting by, and what it is really like to parent a kid with Autism. And he's a nice person. And he has been struggling to build a tree house for like a billion zillion years (see story here)

Next, I'd like to showcase From the Bungalow.
This post ( an open letter to my kids on Father's day) made me cry. Chris is also a very nice person. He has encouraged me, sent people to my blog, and been my friend. He has left me wonderful comments and given me advice. He is good. He and his partner Karin are sweet and kind and human and they struggle just like the rest of us. It's a breath of fresh air.

Next, I want to introduce you to Daddy Knows Less. He too has encouraged me, supported me, and been a kind human being. These are amazing people, all of them! I found a community amongst these daddy blogs. They are supporting each other and they just accepted me amongst their folds. I feel grateful and appreciative. Daddy knows less often writes beautiful pieces like this one called "My one and only you". It is clear that his love for his wife is a giant sun in his solar system. It's freaking beautiful. We should all be so lucky. Go follow him!

I feel lucky to be blogging alongside these gentlemen. Thanks for reading their stuff, and supporting them, because they have really helped me feel like I am a part of a community of bloggers. SURE they're Dads, and SURE I'm a mom.. And YEAH they're straight and I'm crooked.. But we blog and we support each other and share each other's work. And it's nice. So I want to say THANK YOU to these fine folks.

And I am also running around being quite busy this morning, and would have liked to take more time to thank the REST of you, for supporting me, sharing my work, and being there for you. You have all been really wonderful, and I so very much appreciate it. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.

Sincerely, and with immense gratitude,

KR Munro

I need your advice on this!

Hi Adventurers!

So I found out yesterday that I'm being laid off of work. I have 2 weeks left and then I'm on my own. I am very confident that I will turn this into a myriad of incredible opportunities. And part of that confidence comes from being a planner. As a mom, and sole supporter of my son (when he's at my house, at least) it's important for me to have stability. So I'm exploring the options available to me right now. I will qualify for unemployment insurance, so I will not become destitute entirely, but I need to find ways to make a few dollars while I look for a new job or explore further education. Decisions, decisions.

So I want your opinion on monetizing this blog. I was approached a few weeks ago by an organization called "Social Moms", who want me to direct traffic to their site for a dollar per click, up to a maximum of, like 50 dollars or something. Do you guys consider this "selling out" or are you happy to click a link and see where it goes?

When this offer was first proposed, I didn't really consider it because I didn't need the money (much) and didn't want to change anything about the blog. So, I'd like your opinions on the subject. Will any of you unsubscribe if I have a link on the side of the blog? Will any of you actually click it?

Here is the description for the link:
SocialMoms is a network of moms who are active in social media. We bring our members opportunities to grow their personal brands and showcase their expertise through sponsorships, media opportunities, advertising programs and networking activities. The company's staff is dedicated to bringing its members high-integrity opportunities to engage with each other, media outlets, and the world's leading brands.

(So this means people who blog, or have networking abilities can share and take part in things like what I'm doing here. It's about marketing, and reaching audiences)

And here is the link: Social Moms Social Media Toolkit

I'll post the link somewhere on the left, and leave it there. If you hate it, leave a comment and I'll know how you feel. If you are in support, also comment, and/click it and I'll follow the consensus.

Also, advice on how to deal with being laid off? Tell me your stories!

Thanks,

SLMother

Tweet

Gender

Today’s post is a response to two other bloggers I frequent, (from the bungalow) and (Daddyknowsless). Daddy knows less posted an article about gender, in response to this article about a school in Sweden that does not use the personal pronouns, and from the bungalow started a conversation on his wall that I wanted to write about. (Click HERE for the article on the gender neutral preschool)

I’d like to disclose before you read any further, that I’m not an expert on gender and sexual categories. I have a lot to learn, and I invite you all to comment and share and correct me anywhere that I might have been confused. Join the conversation and share what you know, share what you feel, and share what you think. This is a welcoming and supportive environment for conversation, so take part, and know that I am not an expert on the subject (or any subject) and I may get things mixed up. Let me know if I do and I’ll do my best to provide accurate information.

So there’s a school in Sweden that is doing away with the personal pronouns “he” and “she” and is using a gender neutral Swedish term, “han”. Some of the responses I’ve heard about this are that raising children without gender is too PC, and strange and problematic and wrong.

Something that some people don’t understand is that gender and sex are different. As I understand it, sex is the biological of your body, where gender is the category you personally identify with on the male to female continuum. Gender is complicated because we tend to think of gender as a binary 'girl' or 'boy' and it is not actually binary.

We have expectations that boys are supposed to be masculine, and girls are supposed to be feminine, with a whole host of what that looks like, and we don't all fit into these expectations. Sometimes the expectation of gender is so far off what a person is really like, that they don’t fit in. Sometimes boys have a little bit of girl inside, and sometimes a little girl feels more like a boy inside. It is so common, and yet we don’t recognize it in our society as okay.

That’s the point of the school in Sweden; it is allowing children to be themselves without the need to behave in the socially created gender norms. So that a little boy who feels a bit like a girl inside can wear pink, and paint his nails, and be safe. Because kids should not be judged or shoved to the borders of society for not fitting into our stereotypes of what gender should be. Kids should be happy and loved and accepted. There are a massive number of people who don’t fit into “girl” or “boy”.

There is a huge population of gender queer, transgendered, feminine boys or masculine girls that our society does not acknowledge, or when they do acknowledge, it is with judgment, fear, and unkindness. And a huge number of these people, children, youth, and adults, commit suicide every year because they don’t fit in.

They are born girls, or boys, but they don't feel entirely like girls or boys. They feel like a girl in a boy body, or a boy in a girl body, or like a girl with a lot of boy inside, or a boy with a lot of girl, and they get teased, relentlessly for being different. But they’re BORN different, and they kill themselves. So many children, teens and adults take their own lives because they cannot be what they are told they should be, just because they don’t fit into the binary.

So, when I think about this school in Sweden who is doing away with personal pronouns in an attempt to allow people to just be themselves, without enforcing a false gender stereotype onto them, I think, “finally”. I wonder when the rest of the world will catch up with this school, and allow people to be themselves, without insisting that they meet our expectations about who we think they should be.