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It hasn’t been particularly easy finding British parents who blog. Last May, Vicky

“was beginning to wonder where all the UK parent blog activity is.”

And that’s a shame, because reading what others have to say is at least half the fun. [British Parent Bloggers is doing sterling work to rectify this, of course!]

Anyway, I thought one things that could make the process easier is for us to share our subscriptions in a way that others can easily access. And here it is: our OPML file

An OPML file is just a list of blogs and news feeds that you can import into your news reader in one fell swoop rather than having to subscribe to them all individually.

If you want to have a look:

1. Save the file
2. Open up your news reader (see here for more)
3. Import the file
4. Update your news feed and you should have everyone’s latest posts to read.

Lastly, but definitely not least, thanks to David for sharing the technical tip.

… then why not check out the latest links to blogs written by UK parents:

Mutterings from the Mill – Four children, three woodburning stoves, three dogs, the farmer and his wife

Suffolk Writings – Mum to two writes about life in the country

Posie’s Blog – Living on a farm on an island off the west coast of Scotland, married to the happy farmer, three gorgeous children, several dogs, cats, chickens, cows, sheep and horses, holiday cottages and two happy potters who are my brothers in law

My Life Now – I didn’t choose to be a single parent. Bringing up three boys on my own wasn’t on the agenda when I married and moved from London to live in the English countryside over 20 years ago. This is my life now.

Blossom Cottage – The original scatty blonde,with a sense of humour which gets me into trouble from time to time,I love life, married twice my “current husband is a vet” (horses only) I have four children and one grandson, two dogs and some lovely family and friends

The Dulverton Diaries – Being a true and nearly honest account of the adventures of two writers, one child and one highly delinquent dog in a small Exmoor town.

The Expectant Father – This here blog, is for me to share those touching, moving, heart-string tugging and pant wettingly funny moments that I’m desperately hoping (for the sake of this blog) will occur. I suppose it’s also just to keep track of me during this pregnancy/fatherhood lark.

I have just discovered a great new blog called Breastfeeding Mums which aims to give support to other mothers who are breastfeeding. I know from experience how difficult breastfeeding can be and the site contains all sorts of useful articles. The great thing is that unlike many of the larger parenting sites, the articles have been written by Sinead, a full time mum of three. An invaluable resource from someone who has been there and done that.

Life has been pretty busy here at Little Legends recently. I have managed to connect with several other UK Mums who are busy running their own businesses and as a result I have found some more UK Parent blogs:

Chelltune – a great place to find out about Sign Language for Babies and Children:

Signing comes naturally to babies and children. From a young age they will use gestures to wave bye bye or put their arms out to indicate that they want picked up. As parents or carers we can build on these skills by teaching our babies some basic signs for the things that are important to them. For younger babies you might want to teach them the sign for milk. For a child who is potty training the sign for toilet could be useful if they aren’t yet able to make a verbal request to go to the toilet. Early communication will mean that your child is less likely to become frustrated.

Baby Banana - One Mum shares her experiences of Baby Led Weaning

Doula Mama - Talks about being a Doula. The blog explains:

The word doula comes from the Greek language, and refers to a woman who personally serves another woman. Today it means an experienced mother who supports a pregnant woman (and/or partner) emotionally and physically before, during and after birth. A doula believes in ‘mothering the mother’ helping the expectant woman acheive the best from one of natures most amazing gifts, new life.

What is the attraction to parents of joining online communities or regularly reading parenting blogs? There are so many parenting sites online that it is interesting to consider why some sites have a much higher readership than others. I suggest the following reasons:

1) First impressions count, so the design of your site will have an effect on whether or not readers hang around for longer than 5 seconds. Easy navigation is essential and the reader will usually want to find out quickly about the author, aim and background of the site. This is why “about” pages are so popular. Personally, I am always attracted by people’s photos because it makes the websites less anonymous.

2) Fresh, entertaining and regular content will catch the reader’s initial interest and keep them coming back for more

3) In the case of blogs, an insight into the character of the writer is very important. The style of writing will give the reader an idea of the writer’s personality and whether or not they are someone who interests them. With websites, forums will help to give readers a flavour of the type of member who belongs to the site and readers can then decide whether or not they would like to strike up a conversation with them or join them.

4) Readers often want to gain an immediate idea of what the purpose of the site is eg is it a personal blog or a place for working mums to network? This way a reader can quickly judge if it is the type of site they are looking for

5) Parenting sites and blogs are most often visited when readers are looking for information, advice and entertainment related to family issues. Parents usually agree that the experts on family issues are other parents who have had to deal with similar situations.

6) Finally, many parents are stuck at home with the kids and the amount they go out is restricted. By joining a community or commenting on a blog, readers can air their points of view and make their voice heard.

Online communities are all about striking up conversations and connecting with other like-minded people across the net. Therefore, unless a reader can relate to your site in some small way within the first few seconds of visiting it, they will probably click another button and be gone for good.

I have decided to try to build up a list of UK blogs that discuss family life and parenting issues. So far my list is pretty small so please let me know of any others out there. (Just writing this post has helped me to discover some great blogs that I have been missing). Anyway, my intention is to build up a list of all the UK parenting blogs and then let people vote for their favourite ones.

Alpha Mummy
BLWBaby
Doing it all again
Family of Five
Family Relationships Blog
Good Enough Mum
Happy to Be
Hugh’s the Daddy
Isn’t She Talking Yet
Little Mummy
Madness of Modern Families
Mothers on the Verge
Pewari’s Prattle
The Baby Gravy Train
The Bedside Crow
The Musings of a Juggling Mother
The Welch Family Christmas
Wife in the North
You’ve Got Your Hands Full

Feel free to point out any mistakes – sometimes it is hard to work out which part of the world people are posting from!