The world is enticed by social networks, it’s the human guilty pleasure. Proven to be somewhat of a necessity for the majority of the world on a daily, sometimes hourly basis.
So how does that come into parenting?
Social media goes hand in hand with parenting.
As modern parents, we like to socialise. Not always to make friends or show off our kids achievements. There’s support, advice, opinions (not all good ones) and for the most part, people to talk to.
When I became a father, I was the first of my close friends to ‘level up’ to that status of responsibility, so I really felt out of my depth and somewhat alone in having that in common with anyone. So social media and networking really stood out to me.
I’ve used most of the popular networks out there and I definitely found a favourite in Instagram where you can find me as @astoryfromdad. I’ve made some fantastic parent friends on there ranging from here in the UK all the way to Australia. But it’s really come home for me more recently as I started really networking properly with people.
As some of you may have read in one of my previous posts (The One With The Social Club) I recently connected with a great group of local ladies who welcomed me to their social club ‘Knackered and Norwich’ where people from different backgrounds from parenting to business meet up and network.
Coming from that, I really wanted to focus more on how I network, we all throw our ‘likes’ out as we scroll endlessly through feeds, but something powerful happens when you go beyond that.
Commenting is another form of interaction, this is where it can get interesting. It’s easy to type a few emojis or say ‘wow!’ and keep scrolling. But something I’ve seen recently is, the more you truly encourage others as well as engaging in what they are showing you, the more you get in return. I’ve created some really powerful connections with some amazing people by doing this, and actually creating a line of conversation was where it started.
Coming back on topic, I think it’s so important to support people, especially fellow parents and their potential businesses. We all crave more time and home and self powered businesses. The way I see it, if someone is brave enough to talk about their issues on social media, or ask silly parenting questions (we all have them) it’s really friggin nice to have someone write back to you with support or even a short, ‘been there my friend!’
In a world that’s literally moving at light speed, making friends who can add some supportive happiness into your life is essential, and so is supporting them back in return.
Imagine what kind of world our kids will believe in as they grow older when their parents are confident, successful and empowered by their peers. If it is true that kids model the behaviour they see, let them see us winning, and helping others win too, that’s the ticket I’d say.
Thanks for reading if you’ve made it this far, as always, I appreciate the reads, likes, comments and connections, so if your out there, and still listening, drop me a little message to say hi, let’s talk!
A Story From Dad 