It may seem that I have been missing in action. Missing from my blog, missing from Facebook, missing from Twitter.

My online persona has taken a dive in presence. But that doesn’t mean I have taken a dive in workload.

I’m frantically working on the Digital Parents Conference. As the Session Co-ordinator I’ve been working with the speakers and moderators on content and structure.

On top of that I’m also the Managing Editor of the Digital Parents Blogazine. It’s a relatively new online magazine. We’re five editions in so you can imagine there’s a lot of admin stuff going on to get it nice and streamlined.

And there’s my family. I have 4 kids. 3 in school and 1 still at home. This year I’ve decided to structure our life a little more. Not because I plan on being an authoritarian non-spontaneous type parent; more because all the best intentions of getting the kids to learn Italian generally fall by the wayside because something always comes up.

The reality is my approach to day-to-day life has changed. It had to. If I only had 2 children I’m sure my approach would be different; simply because there would have been less people to keep track of.

This new structured way of life is less about my kids and more about me. What I want to achieve with my kids. It helps keep me in line. Every Wednesday I get the kids to do some Italian work. I’m not Italian, my husband is. So effectively I’m learning Italian too.

I encourage my kids to learn a musical instrument but on Tuesdays I get all the kids to jam together. Me included. I used to play piano at high school but have hardly touched it since. So this gets me back into my piano playing. Because lets face it, mums always put themselves last.

On Thursday’s we set up a circuit-style course in the backyard.

I recently reviewed a book on the Digital Parents Blogazine called The Conflict by Elisabeth Badinter. In the book, Badinter takes the approach that women are women first and mothers second. And they should not let the responsibility of motherhood railroad them out of the wants and desires they wish for themselves as women.

Identity, achievement, responsibility, and expectation it’s all up for grabs. I wonder though if you can merge motherhood and womanhood? What makes a mother? What makes a woman?

I mean really, learning Italian and re-learning to play the piano again has nothing to do with motherhood. It’s about me, the individual. I’m just clever enough to incorporate it into my role as mother, which I also enjoy.

As the book states, here in Australia women tend to be fluid with the definition of who they are. Stay-at-home mum, work-at-home mum, working mum, part-time working mum, homeschooling mum. Although I get the impression that Badinter is being critical when she says “the balance between these women’s identities is fragile and unstable; the negotiations are never definitely settled. “

I don’t mind that. I like the fluidity of my life. It actually allows me to change all facets of my life without the guilt.

So you haven’t seen me write a blog post in a while or put up a facebook status, but I am here. I am here.

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