Where in the world do you live? And, are you from there?

I live in North Carolina in a suburb of Raleigh. I grew up in the Midwest, and I moved to the south in 1996. I have lived in both Tennessee and North Carolina.

What language(s) do you speak?

English

When did you first become a mother?

My first daughter was born on December 16, 1999

Are you a stay-at-home mom or do you work?

I am a stay at home mom to three daughters and one son during the day. I have a part-time job on evenings and weekends, and I have a virtual assistant business I tend to work only when I can get away to a coffee shop or when everyone is asleep.

Why do you blog/write?

I write primarily as a form of therapy but also as an expression of creativity and emotion. I publish my writing on a blog to connect with other writers, and to learn from them as I read their writing. Much like Robin, who also writes for World Moms Blog, I started writing for myself, and discovered a community and a support system within my readership and writing circles.

How would you say that you are different from other mothers?

In my late twenties and thirties, I was very insecure about my parenting. As I approach forty, I am far more confident. I know I am doing the best I can for my kids, I read and research new challenges that we come across, and don’t compare what we have or don’t have to others (most of the time), or how my kids behave compared to other kids. We are our own unique family, and comparing ourselves to others is like apples to oranges.

I am different from a lot of other moms I know in that I am very open-minded about self-expression and creativity. I fully support hair dyeing and outrageous outfit combinations, and there is a lot of artwork that happens in our house. I would not go so far as to sign a permission slip for a piercing or a tattoo for my underage child, but I am certainly leading by example in the body art and piercing department.

I used to think I was really different from a lot of other moms because I practiced attachment parenting when my kids were babies and toddlers, which means that I breastfed and allowed them to self-wean, they slept in bed with me, I delayed and skipped several vaccinations for them all together, and turned to gentle forms of discipline more often than not. I used a midwife and had homebirths with 3 of my 4 children, and I also homeschooled them for several years.

What do you view as the challenges of raising a child in today’s world?

For me, the challenges of raising a child in today’s world have a lot to do with helping them develop a work ethic by doing chores just because they live in the house and to be able to delay gratification for things. To not get absorbed in technology and prefer it to playing with real children out in the real world and in nature. To practice compassion and not be so judgmental. To not hold themselves or others to a fictitious standard of beauty, and to believe that we all feel the same on the inside no matter how we look or behave on the outside. To not be victims and not be bullies. To not be aggressive, but to stand up for themselves and what they believe in.

How did you find World Moms Blog?

Through fellow writers @FarewellStrangr and @GalitBreen on Twitter, who write for WMB.

This is an original post to World Moms Blog from one of our new US writers, Frelle.

The photograph used in this post is attributed to the author.

Frelle (USA)

Jenna grew up in the midwestern US, active in music and her church community from a young age. She developed a love of all things literary thanks to her mom, and a love of all things science fiction thanks to her dad. She left the midwest in her early twenties and has lived in the south ever since.

On her blog, she tries to write words that make a difference to people. Long before she attended college to major in Special Ed and Psychology, she became an advocate for special needs and invisible disabilities. She's always been perceptive of and encouraging to those who struggle to fit in. Having been through several dark seasons in her own life, she's found empowerment in being transparent and vulnerable about her emotions, making deep and lasting friendships, and finding courage to write from her heart. Her biggest wish is to raise her kids to be compassionate people who love well.

She's been online since 1993, with a total of 19 years of social media exposure. Having friends she doesn't know in real life has been normal for her since her junior year in college, and she's grateful every day for the ways technology helps her stay in touch with friends from all over the world.

Jenna lives in a suburb of Raleigh, North Carolina, and is a freelance writer and a stay at home single mom to 3 girls and a boy. She blogs at MadeMoreBeautiful.comMadeMoreBeautiful.com.

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