Hi all, I just wanted to write something really quick to introduce myself. I'm Kit Meredith, and in a fit of delusion/mommy brain Cybergrrl made the mistake of asking me to contribute to the mom's blog when I can. I'm working on some longer topics, but here's something I've been thinking about and wanted to see if anyone had comments on.
CG wrote a excellent
post a little while ago about not wanting a baby in SL. I completely agree, but my tension is slightly different - for a while I wondered whether I wanted to acknowledge being a mom in RL at all when I'm in-world. Now, the fact that I'm blogging about this (and my profile admits that my daughter runs my life) should tell you where I came down on this eventually. But it wasn't an easy thing to decide.
What really got me thinking about this was the mom's club group tag. If you're a member of the group, then you know that when the group is active you have a banner floating above your head that says "I'm a Mom & Lovin it." Frankly, I've never worn it. I just can't seem to bring myself to advertise the fact that I'm a mother to everyone in SL who sees me.
And I can't help feeling a little guilty for that. Having a child was the greatest thing that has ever happened to me, and I'll gladly tell any one of you about how proud I am of my little Kitlet. And like I said, it's in my profile, so it's not like I'm hiding anything. On the other hand, I use SL as a diversion from my RL. Not an escape, but a diversion - I use it when I don't want to think for a little while about diapers, or naptimes, or signing up for preschools. And, to be honest, it's nice to be able to look thin and have my hair and makeup done in SL, because it so rarely happens in RL anymore.
I just feel like if I advertise that I'm a mom, people are going to act differently toward me or form opinions from the outset. I simply don't want every conversation to start with, "Oh, so how old are your kids?"
Not that I'm advocating changing the tag - I think if we ever get the group together, it would be fun to all wear it and maybe even go out as a group with it on. And I think it's a great recruiting tool for the group - CG tells me that wearing it helps her start up conversations with other moms. Actually, now that I think about it, that might be why I start wearing it around sometimes, too...
Would love to get other people's opinions on this. Do you use your group tag? Do you acknowledge your mommyhood at all in SL?
We're lining up some great guests speaking on topics of interest to women and to moms in Second Life.
