Hello: My name is ___?

I have been given a label maker to review on my own site.   It is a cool little thing.  But it got me thinking.

Labels.  The internet is FULL of them.  When blogging, we categorize  things. We tag  them.  We give our posts a label.   An identity that means more than the titles themselves.

And yes, we do this all for very techie, SEOey reasons.  It tells the cyber world were to put that story.  What to call it, so the right kind of person, a person who want to read that type of story can find it.

The labels in cyberspace affiliate us with other posts, and other people out there.  They join us together.  Little clubs clustered around labels.

The parental genre online is full of labels and categories.

When I first started my online forays, it was to parenting sites.  Many sites have forums.  The forums themselves define parenting by various labels.    You find the 'type' that suits you and hang out there under THAT label.

You know the labels...the ones that are for Breastfeeding or Co-Sleeping, Cloth Diapering or Attachment Parenting.  Or the labels that are about the age of your children, or the type of food you eat, or the amount of children you have...the list of labels is endless.

These labels have migrated to our blogs, they are how we describe ourselves in our 'About' sections.  They are now #hashtags in Twitter.

Online, parents are obsessed with defining ourselves and aligning ourselves with labels.

We all cluster around them.  Post or tweets under one label become rallying grounds for like minded labelers.   

It all must be very gratifying and comforting to someone who has posted under a particular label to see the support or agreement from commenter's or similar hash taggers.

I say must be, because I have honestly, as a parent, blogger and cyberspace addict, find myself at a loss as to what to label myself and or my posts, tags, categories etc.

This probably explains why I haven't been leaping around labeling everything in my house with the label-maker.  

For some reason, giving something an actual label or designation gives me pause.  I must be some sort of commitment phobe.

When reading forums or blogs, I tend to drift through a myriad of categories.  I may find something interesting or useful and comment here or there.   Under many labels.

And my parenting is the same.  I don't fit under any one category.   For those that are firmly confident in their labeling, I probably don't pass muster.

I mean really.  I am a sling using, cloth diapering, formula feeding, mom.  That last one alone is enough to probably have me banned from many sites.

Is there a label for moms that hate commercialism and marketing, yet have homes FILLED with Transformers and Disney Princesses?

Is there a hashtag for moms who feed their kids Kraft Dinner?

Because here is the thing.  I notice that the labels...while helpful to many seeking support or information, are also very exclusionary.   People wear there labels with more than just pride.  Sometimes there is a bit of 'in your face with my label' sort of atmosphere.

There doesn't seem to be labels for 'slacker mom,' just labels that seem to imply that THAT label is the one you want.  The one you really want on your blog or profile.  THAT one gets you in with the right crowd.

At my son's school they are quite eager to 'label' him.  They feel that if is placed in a nice well defined category, that they will then be better at educating him.  There need for a label for him, a definition is strong.  No enigmas allowed in the public school system.

I don't know how I feel about that.  We gave him a label already.  It is Adam.  That is who he is.  How he defines that label is entirely up to him.

And I am the same with my parenting.  I just am.  This is how I do it.....not sure what my label is.

So, there I am, label maker in hand and a mind devoid of apt titles to input.

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Original Canada Moms Blog post, Kerry also writes at Crunchy Carpets.