2010: The Year In 10 Mom Blogger Dramas

NY Times Snarks About Mommy Bloggers

A NY Times reporter posted an article, set in the rooms of Bloggy Bootcamp, about moms who blog, insinuating mostly with the title that women set their children aside in favor of building their brands.  And oh, the backlash.

  Mrs. Armstrong Goes To Washington

Heather Armstrong of Dooce was invited to the White House to participate in a session about working mothers.  Critics derided the choice of Armstrong to represent the demographic, citing her home based working conditions and her seemingly cushy job as a blogger.  Armstrong responded with a bitch slap supported by her legions of commenters.

Nestle Boycott Reaches BlogHer 2010 Conference

Some bloggers decided to not only boycott Nestle (whose practices of selling formula upset many breastfeeding advocates) but also to boycott the BlogHer 2010 conference because Nestle was one of its main sponsors.

Her Bad Mother vs. Air Canada

Her Bad Mother’s writer Catherine Connor traveled to New York with her nephew Tanner, who suffers from Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy.  After the airline mishandled Tanner’s special wheelchair, Connor voiced her concern online, and the story spread quickly through social media channels.  Air Canada eventually replaced the wheelchair and offered to send the boy and his family on another trip.

The Mom Central Corn Syrup Drama

The Corn Refiners Assocation hired Mom Central to educate mom bloggers about High Fructose Corn Syrup.  There was a Twitter stream that attracted some serious scrutiny.  Liz Gumbinner of Mom 101 posted her head-scratchings about the topic, and Mom Central posted a testy rebuttal, calling Gumbinner part of the mom-blogger Borg.

Marie Claire vs. Fat People

Maura Kelly’s musings about obese actors getting it on in the show Mike and Molly at Marie Claire evoked ire from across the blogosphere, shocking Kelly herself.

Once-Prominent Dad Blogger Exposed As Alleged Lewd Texter

A mom blogger posted a rant against an unnamed dad blogger bashing him for super creepy behavior. Another mom blogger criticized her for not naming him publicly, and did it herself.  The dad blogger shut down his blog, leaving people scratching their heads.  There was much comment and ridicule about the parent blogger community from the outside world.  At the very least, one hopes those lewd texts are over for good.

“My Son Is Gay”

Sarah from Nerdy Apple Bottom posted a photo of her son in his Daphne costume, with a thoughtful post about sexual orientation, sparking a discussion about the topic among commenters and other bloggers, and attracting criticism and national attention.

Cecily of Uppercase Woman Initiates Twitter Outrage Against Amazon

Cecily Kellogg tweeted her shocked dismay about Amazon.com’s sales of a book about pedophiles.  Word spread and eventually Amazon pulled the book, but not before Cecily received some very negative and personal backlash.

#LysolMoms Twitter Party Hijacked By Ridicule

After announcing that Lysol would be hosting their Twitter party about the topic of “Raising Healthy Babies,”  TwitterMoms (now SocialMoms) inspired many bloggers to criticize their juxtaposition of a toxic chemical-based cleaner with the idea of raising children.  By the time the Twitter party happened so many naysayers had joined the discussion that it was actually hard to see a positive tweet with the #lysolmoms tag that night.