Blog spot A decade of Mumsnet

Friday March 19, 2010

And so the powerhouse that is Mumsnet is 10 years old this month. A decade of cyber chit-chat about everything from outwitting late potty-trainers to doing the dirty on your Other Half.

I can't imagine how brutal life must have been pre-online mum forums. These life-saving pockets of school gatestyle support systems.

Crucially they are open all hours and therefore perfect for 3am rash panics (does it disappear under a glass etc).

Admittedly, it's been a while since I dipped into this stage of cyber-mummyhood, and naively assumed that in the online mum world, no one cared what labels you wore, or how you spoke.

So I was not impressed to read of the smug dress code Mumsnet had set for their party; (shudder) Boden.

A definite case of three steps forward, two steps back because by branding their followers as Boden mums, they might as well have announced they were only middle-class, middle-England, middle of the blooming road and screw the rest of the world. Very disappointing.

Mumsnet has happily spawned a thousand other mummy online communities the length and breadth of the world. There's us of course: MumsRock
(dresscode pyjamas or showgirl tassels), and it's cool to see how the internet is enabling parent power to become a potent new force, nationally and (www. friendsofbrookgreen. co. uk) locally.

Then there's the real school gates, the only place where you can bump into your next best friend quicker than whispering 'What schools are you applying to?'

Primary applications are looming. Which brings me to 'catchment areas', or 'If you don't live in this road then start praying'. Literally. Then you can get them into Catholic school instead.

We have the added complication in that we're planning to move this year. Not far (in the unlikely event that anyone is concerned about this column expiring), but like many west Londoners with dinky homes and growing kids, we need somewhere bigger.

Last summer K and I visited friends who had moved to Suburbia. K wandered to the bottom of their vast garden, and I heard a wail. Speeding over to see what rural ill had befallen him, I discovered him by their hedge, 'lost'.

This is what comes of being a child of the patio. We're looking for another bedroom, a real garden, a brilliant school and a first-rate coffee shop. Not too much to ask, is it?

Columnist Gigi Eligoloff is the founder of Mums Rock, a digital 'drop-in' site for all independently-minded mums and dads. She lives in West Kensington. Visit: www.mumsrock.com (opens new window).