By Marlene Kern Fischer of Thoughts From Aisle Four

A mother of three sons recently had an epiphany when she realized that she might not have been as successful at blogging if her children had been better behaved. While writing yet another piece for the popular blogging site, Babbling Mommy, the mom recognized that she owed much of her career to her sons, who had been almost continuously misbehaved and hellbent on self-destruction since birth.

The mother, whose children currently range in age from 15 to 25, stated that if she had known that blogging would become such a huge and lucrative industry, she would have encouraged her sons to act even more wretchedly and recklessly when they were younger. With only her youngest son still living at home full-time, the mom, who wished to be identified as “Lisa,” was starting to worry that she might eventually run out of material and have to find other topics for her blogs.

She had already written about her sons’ antics at school, their appalling actions on family vacations, their conduct in the house, etc. and was growing concerned that their behavior was improving as they got older. She stated that she was “thankful to her sons for making her life a living hell at times.” She was especially grateful for the time her middle son poured tomato sauce all over the rugs in the house when he was three, as well as when he was in middle school and called 911 because she hadn’t allowed him to have a sleepover with a friend.

Some of her readers seemed to think her stories were embellished; however, she was proud to say that “every word she wrote was true.” She chuckled when she recalled how her oldest son scared her little one half to death when he jumped out of a closet in a gorilla mask and commented how her youngest son was still in therapy for that stunt. The mother said her blog about that incident had gone viral and had even offset some of the cost of her son’s psychologist.

The mother commented that she felt fortunate that she still had one teenager in the house and mused that she should have had a few more children for her career. She especially felt that having a daughter might have offered a different angle for her blogging and speculated that perhaps it “wasn’t too late for one more.” Her husband, who was horrified by the idea, suggested that they were too old for parenting and thought Lisa “should just wait for grandchildren so she could write about them instead.”

Lisa thought perhaps she could use her experience as a blogger to help other mothers who had ill-behaved children. She wanted them to know that instead of getting upset when their children did something wrong, if they wrote a blog about it they could “earn enough to pay for their Xanax prescriptions, as well as entertain others. It’s kind of a win-win.” In the meantime, she felt fortunate that her children were still providing her with blogging ideas and decided she wouldn’t worry too much about the future.

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About the Author

Marlene Kern Fischer is a wife, mother of three sons, food shopper extraordinaire, lifelong writer, blogger and college essay editor. She graduated cum laude from Brandeis University with a degree in literature. Her work has been featured on CollegiateParent, Kveller, Grown and Flown, the Erma Bombeck Writers’s Workshop, Her View From Home, Beyond Your Blog and Better After 50. You can read more of her work on her blog: Thoughts From Aisle Four.