Farewell BabyCenter

I made a quick comment about this on Facebook the other day, but I wanted to formally announce that my time writing for BabyCenter is over.  

Normally this time on a Sunday morning, I am searching news feeds for ideas for my (mostly) weekly article about parenting and raising a child, but the pressure is off.  After (exactly) four years, I will no longer be writing for BabyCenter.

I have been running out of steam for the last few months… feeling like I have been repeating myself and covering the same general topics. My (excellent) BabyCenter editors are also looking to go into a specific direction and so we came to a very natural parting of the ways.

The editors (past and present) and writers on BabyCenter were kind, encouraging, and pretty darn wonderful. This experience was a much needed change from some of the previous blogging experiences I had at other sites.

From a writing perspective, I learned restraint. I couldn’t rely on my natural tone and had to change my style to match the audience. At times I found that frustrating, but overall, I am very proud that I didn’t follow my more base instincts.

That learned-restraint has been reused and refined on my weekly podcast.

Besides writing, I learned a great deal about operating a blog, getting better awareness for posts, and more than I ever wanted to know about usage rights for pictures (you can’t put the genie back into the bottle).

My main online project The Source has been growing in popularity this year and this newfound “extra time” on Sunday mornings will be spent improving that project as well as creating content for this blog right here (which I have been neglecting).

Thank you for reading and supporting my articles at BabyCenter, I never imagined I would be writing there for four years. Special thanks to Amy H, Amy G, Betsy, and Dina for the feedback and support you provided over the years.

If you want to keep tabs on me… follow me here, at The Source, and on twitter.

Photo: Allison

Babycenter roundup:Week of March 31st

I have been lazy and haven’t posted links to several articles I wrote for Babycenter over the last few weeks. Here is a run down (I do this for my own archival purposes too).

News: Violence, video games, and all the voices

An article on a new study about video game violence and actual violence in children.

News: Should children be forced to exercise?

A reaction piece to an article detailing the trend of parents forcing children to exercise.

Personal: When are you having another?

Lisa gave me the idea for this article. I think you can figure out the topic.

News: Do chores together, stay together?

Reaction article on a study that finds couples that split the same task have better marriages.

Personal: From crib to toddler bed…

Personal story about me converting Ben’s crib into a toddler bed and getting the safety gate up around the stairs.