I knew it had to happen sooner or later: like all first children, Hayden is having some issues with sharing. Or, to put it bluntly, stealing Rebecca’s toys.
(As a reminder, Hayden is almost 3 and a half and Rebecca will be one tomorrow.)
How have you successfully taught your kids to share?
As I’ve mentioned a couple times, I recently had a guest post on literary agent Nathan Bransford’s blog. (Very exciting!) I’m still keeping up with the discussion in the comments, and yesterday Donna asked an interesting blogging question:
I’m what could be called a “Lurker”. I lurk in blog-land, reading the advise and posts, sometimes having a thing or two to say. After reading everyone else’s posts, whatever questions or comments I might pose have been answered. I’m satisfied. So, I wouldn’t know what to do with a blog of my own, or if someone actually made a comment about what was posted on the web site.
I gave a short answer in the comments, but here is a long one:
1. Stop lurking. Every question you’ve ever thought of has really been answered? Even then, I know I appreciate the fourth “thank you, I really needed this today!” as much as the first. In fact, that’s one of my favorite comments to get.
I know I used to feel reluctant to comment, and often still do, especially on big blogs where I don’t know the blogger. But comments are the currency of blogging. Bloggers love (non-hateful) comments. Most of us won’t bite your head off for commenting; we’ll be too busy loving you forever.
2. Find something to say. Blogs are always stronger when they have a focus/niche/topic. The topic of this blog is fulfillment in motherhood. The topic of my writing blog is the art and craft (and business!) of writing. The topic of my work blog is Internet marketing news.
Or, you can phrase it more like an argument: you can find fulfillment in motherhood, this is how you should write (the argument is a bit more complex than that, of course), you should use Internet marketing (and do it thusly).
Don’t have a message to the world? You can sometimes garner a following just posting interesting stuff—research for a novel, travel information, etc.
3. Get out there! I’ve attended a few industry conferences in Internet marketing and publishing. While the subject matter is vastly different, I can attest that you get a lot more out of conferences if you take the opportunity to talk to people. Yes, it’s hard—I’m very shy (I don’t like calling the pizza parlor, or even my friend sometimes!). But so are lots of other people out there. You never know what might happen if you’re willing to take that first step.
And here’s your chance! Whether you’ve commented here once or one thousand times, introduce yourself in the comments and let’s chat!
Photo by Sofie