Obligatory First Post: Why GreenER?

I was drumming my fingers nervously on the keyboard, willing myself to come up with something genius to say, when it hit me: Just get the first post over with.  It doesn’t matter what you say, largely because no one is reading yet anyway. So, here it is: The Obligatory First Post.

I’ve been mulling over the idea of starting a for-public-consumption blog for a long time.  As a freelance writer, I blog for hire (currently about finding the perfect job and financing your college education). As a mom, I blog in relative seclusion (and with increasing infrequency) about raising my kids.

About six months ago, a friend (and blogging smartypants) told me I should write a blog.  I took his advice to heart, especially the part where he told me I needed a niche.  That niche part really stumped me.

But after near endless mulling on this niche idea, it finally came to me: My niche is the intersection between parenting and green living. You see, as a freelance writer, there are two gigs I love to land — writing about parenting and writing about green living. It’s no wonder these subjects are my favorite assignments, since they are two of the three topics I spend the most time thinking about. (The third being frugality, which will, undoubtedly, rear its penny-pinching head in this blog every now and again, too.)

So what does Greener Parenting mean?  Why greener? Why not just green parenting?  Well, for one, there’s already a blog by that name, written by Jenn Savedge, the author of The Green Parent Bible Guide. Plus, and this was the real reason, I felt that green parent implied a level of confidence and mastery that I just don’t have.  Yet.

Instead, I identify with “greener” parent because I am a work in progress.  (More work than progress some days.) I have stopped drinking those little bottles of water, but only recently implemented a full-scale recycling program in our home. I talk to my kids about protecting our natural resources, but have spent far too little time actually enjoying nature with them. I shop at the farmer’s market with my kids, but still buy most of our produce from the grocery store.

Like I said, I’m not green. Yet. But I’m getting greener.

In the meantime, I Google incessantly and subscribe to more blogs than any one person could possibly read.  That’s because the more I learn, the more I do, and the more accountable I become.  Greenerparent.com is my way of reaching out, of becoming a greener parent, together, with you.  Because I’m betting that I’m not the only one who does better when she (or he) knows better.