Welcome to Catholic Sistas’ newest series, featuring some of our friends in the Catholic blogging world entitled Fabulously Featured which will run on Wednesdays. I have always wanted to introduce you to some new blogs to follow and support, but seriously lacked the time to put this together before now. In a Facebook group of fellow Catholic women bloggers, I asked ladies to answer some questions for this series, and they were all too excited to participate! I give you their answers in their own words. 🙂
Mary Ruth Hackett of Parenting with Peer Review brings a scholarly look to the world of Catholic parenting. A convert to the Faith, Mary Ruth gives some great perspective not just at the scholarly level, but includes her own life experiences as well. Her writing is very diverse, so I invite you to head over and check it out after reading the feature!
Mary Ruth Hackett
ESTABLISHED:
2014
THEME:
Catholic family life and Child Development.
INSPIRATION/MOTIVATION:
I earned my PhD in Child Development the same year I converted to The Faith. After studying how children grow and develop I was inspired to find a way to support families in their quest for optimal child rearing, while staying grounded in Catholic teaching. I had been blogging (mostly NOT blogging) for family, but after writing a few pieces for another Catholic blogger I got the blogging bug in a serious way! My post ideas come to me in the rare quiet times (like when I blow dry my hair), or in conversations with other parents. I often end a conversation with “Oh this sounds like a great blog post… you wouldn’t mind would you?” That is how I ended up with the title Parenting with Peer Review. There is so much fruit that comes from moms sharing with other moms.
FAVORITE ELEMENT:
I am not very good at the techy-stuff, but I love that I am able to weave together the research on child development with practical parenting and Catholic teaching. It really combines Faith and Reason, Love and Research, in a practical way without being too scholarly.
FAVORITE POST:
I wrote a post about eh influences on development. It is probably one of my most “scholarly” posts, but really sums up my goal of using knowledge of child development to influence our decisions as parents.
This other one is more practical and specific but something that most parents struggle with on some level: Chores.
BALANCE
Balance is so hard for me. I typically only write when my older 3 kids are at school. Naptimes are my serious writing time. My husband loves having me writing again and has been very supportive of my writing instead of doing housework during the downtime in the house. My littlest is just now 3 and pretty independent playing. She still naps which helps! I think it helps for me to carve out sometime that I will try to write everyday(12-2), and time that I will NOT write (4-6p and weekends). I also don’t ever write when my husband is home.
AUDIENCE
I am writing for other parents and grandparents. Really anyone who has kids in their lives.
CATCH PHRASE/TAGLINE:
Interweaving Child Development and the Catholic Faith. I am not sure how I came up with it but it is descriptive.
ADVICE :
Write about that which you know and love. Don’t try to do what everyone else is doing, and realize you don’t have to write about everything. You have to have your niche. The times that I have ventured away from my niche I have felt regretful.
QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS?
Have a question or comment for our featured blogger? Please leave them in the comments below!
Would you {or someone you know} like to be fabulously featured?
Send an email to Martina@CatholicSistas.comand reference the Fabulously Featured series and we’ll get the ball rolling to get you or your friend featured!
