There are so many fabulous bloggers out there, and we want to
highlight them on CityLine.ca. We’ll be profiling different lifestyle
bloggers from month to month — they might write about food, fashion,
beauty, decor, parenting, entertaining, gardening, you get the idea! Our
latest featured blogger is Caroline Fernandez, the creator of lifestyle and parenting blog Parent Club.
You recently underwent a redesign – the blog looks great, give us a sense of what’s new!
Thank you! Parent Club was growing and the design needed to grow too. New layout, new colours, new features and new energy…probably like a house redesign it will never be fully done.
How long have you been writing Parent Club – and what’s your goal in writing the blog?
I started Parent Club in October 2007. My goal is to share information, tips and reviews aimed at making life easier for busy parents.
How has Parent Club evolved over time?
Actually, Parent Club initially was to be my online writing portfolio hub. I “retired” from the workforce in 2003 when my 2nd daughter was born…but being a full-time Mom was driving me le CRAZY…so I decided to follow my dream job of being a freelance writer…and then realized I needed a website for editors to read my work and get a feel for my style.
So I chose “Parent Club” as a blog name (because with 2 small children I could never get to a monthly Book Club and realized that I was in the Parent Club for life), bought a domain name and started writing.
Parent Club has grown and grown ever since. It is read by tens of people daily 😉
We noticed your Parent Club Profiles – tell us about that feature.
I LOVE the Parent Club Profiles! It’s a fun and informative Q & A where the subjects share what they do and how they do their best “to do it all” – work, family, life.
Selfishly, I learn something from each of these profiles…which is why I love them so much.
Some of my favourite Parent Club profiles are of:
Erica Diamond (Mom, Author and blogger) [http://parentclub.ca/2011/10/parent-club-profiles-erica-diamond/]
Julie Cole (Mom of 6 and partner at Mabel’s Labels) [http://parentclub.ca/2011/08/parent-club-profiles-julie-cole/]
Dee Brun (Mom, author and cocktail deeva) [http://parentclub.ca/2010/09/parent-club-profiles-dee-brun-cocktail-deeva/]
You have four kids now, correct? How do you find time to blog?
Whoa now…I have THREE kids (wait let me count…one, two…where’s the baby?…yep, three kids).
With the busy life of being the Mom to a baby, kid and tween (still three kids) I find I have to decidedly make time to blog. So I might write a post during nap time instead of folding laundry…because blogging makes me happy…and I’m a better person when I’m happy…and kids’ don’t really care about wearing wrinkled t-shirts. (Editor’s note: Oops, sorry about that Caroline, didn’t mean to add an extra babe to your brood!)
The #zombiemoms hashtag represents a seemingly ever-growing support network for moms on Twitter – how have you found Twitter and social networking in terms of community and support for you as a mom?
The back story of #zombiemoms was that 6 of us “tweeps” (people on Twitter) were all pregnant at the same time and we were tweeting day and night about pregnancy, newborns, lack of sleep, etc…We created the hashtag so it would take up less character space…but as it turns out we created a little corner of twitter for tired parents – worldwide – to visit day and night.
For me (and a lot of Moms just like me), #zombiemoms is an important community. From seeking advice, to sharing a bad day to connecting with another grown up human in the middle of the night (and those night feedings can be oh! So lonely!) it is a great connector.
Just after my son was born, I shared I was going through the baby blues and I received a tsunami of tweets sharing “I went through that”, “Deep breaths”, “Can you call in reinforcements?” from #zombiemoms across the globe. That ongoing, virtual, support got me through it.
What post are you particularly proud of?
My favourite post is a new feature is the Parent Club Mom-Made Gift Guide. It’s an open call for mompreneurs to link their sites (for FREE) so that readers can shop and support mom-made, North American, business. I hope to encourage more mom-made shopping because I feel it supports moms who opt in for working from home, it is better for the environment (less carbon emissions if you buy from North America) and it encourages more businesses to offer online shopping so parents don’t have to trek out with babies (ok – that last point was for me).
What blogs do you enjoy?
I smile with http://www.foreverinmomgenes.com/
I learn from http://herbadmother.com/
I have blog envy of http://www.listentolena.com/
What do you hope people take away from Parent Club?
I hope Parent Club readers read a tip, glean a piece of information or find a product that makes their life a little easier. Because I think all parents – in the Parent Club – deserve to have life a little easier sometimes.
We want to hear from you! Do you know a blogger we should feature on CityLine.ca? Maybe it’s you! Email us at submissions@cityline.ca
and include “CityLine Featured Blogger” in the subject line. And don’t
forget to include a link to the blog! Look forward to hearing from you!