Monday, June 25, 2012

What "Diary Of A Baby Mama" Means..pt 1

First, I'd like to say thank you to those who faithfully follow my blog and leave comments. I deeply appreciate you! I believe that most of you understand my heartbeat. But as this platform has grown, I wanted to take a moment to revisit just what is behind the blog with the interesting name.



How It All Began
When I started this blog in late 2011, I was writing purely from a therapeutic standpoint. I had no mission statement, no cause. I just felt the leading of the Lord to blog again. I've had a couple of blogs before this one but I stopped updating them for a couple of years. "Diary" was born from a nudge to write again that I now believe was from the Lord. Since I started writing again, some amazing things have happened. I never would have thought that something that started literally as an "online diary" would become the ministry tool that it has evolved into.
But God knew and that's the beauty of being led by Him.

Offend Some, Win Many
I understand that with a title that contains the words "Baby Mama" I stand to offend some segments of society and alienate others. My desire was never to intentionally offend anyone but rather to provoke thought. When the phrase "baby mama" is spoken, immediately images come to mind, as well as stereotypes. I've heard them all: ghetto, uneducated, foolish, loose, drama queens, money hungry, etc. However, once you put a real face, life and testimony with the phrase "Baby Mama", perspectives change. My number one goal in titling my blog as I did was to write from my own perspective so that others could see that not all single mothers are created equal.  It's time we put a real face on the ugly term "baby mama". So yea, I've probably alienated some from my blog because of its title. It's risky and a bit gutsy on my part to leave the blog title as is.

 But it's a gamble I'm willing to take.

For everyone who could possibly be offended by it, there are countless more who use the term "baby mama" religiously in their daily lives.

But Why Call It "Diary Of A Baby Mama"?
I'm sure there are those who'd argue I could be just as effective and possibly more inclusive with a title that spoke only to single motherhood. But what I have discovered since creating this blog is that no matter how educated and articulate I am, I cannot escape the term "baby mama". It has become accepted in mainstream now. Even the media uses the term to describe the mother of a man's children when they are not married. I'm not one to play it safe or mince words. I pretended for a long time that this term didn't apply to me and didn't affect my everyday life. And lets just say I made that a believable lie, for the sake of argument. What about the other numerous women who have to live with this term in their families and communities? Don't they deserve a voice and a chance to show that they're not what everyone has said that they are?
Indeed they do.
I've always been a champion of the underdog.

In Part 2, I'll deal with questions such as "Is it hypocritical to be a Christian and a single mother?" and "Are you a male basher/anti marriage"? and more!

You don't want to miss it!


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