What Happened on PhD in Parenting in 2011?

Another year is over. It's funny, it never seems like a "new" year to me in January. I'm still very stuck on the beginning of a new school year as defining a new beginning. Old habits die hard, I guess. In any case, Happy New Year!

So what happened on the PhD in Parenting blog in 2011?

• The top new post this year was When A company Goes from Good to Very, Very Bad: The Evenflo Story. The month that post went up was also the first month that my page views ever went over 100,000 and thankfully it looks like it brought me some new readers who have stuck around because my numbers have remained higher than usual ever since that post went up (*wave* if you're one of those new readers).  Other popular new posts included the Covering Up is a Feminist Issue Video (which was also featured in the Voices of the Year Keynote at BlogHer 2011), the Fun with Analogies: Co-Sleeping and Knives, Car Travel and Guns post about the horrible anti-co-sleeping ads in Milwaukee and The Smarter You Are, The Stupider You Look (if you don't remember what it was about, check it out).

• The new post that got you talking the most was Go The F**k To Sleep: Funny or Offensive? with more than 200 comments.

• A lot of visits to my blog are to posts in my archives. Some of that comes via search engines and some comes from people sharing and re-sharing their favourite resources. Some of the popular older posts that each had more than 10,000 views this year include:




• Cry It Out (CIO): 10 Reasons Why It Is Not For Us


• Why I Protest Nestlé's Unethical Business Practices


• Co-Sleeping Safety


• "Let's Get Naked!" Helping Children Feel Comfortable In Their Skin


• 50 Reasons for Breastfeeding Anytime, Anywhere

• A really important part of blogging is links. I love it when I link to something and people actually click on it. The most clicked on link from my blog is actually the link to my facebook page. If you don't "like" it already, then check it out. I often post other interesting articles there too that I don't have time to write a full post about, but that I think would interest my readers. Other popular links included Baby Milk Action's Nestlé Briefing, Best For Babes Beat the Booby Traps page, and Nancy Morbacher's article My New Industry-Free Life explaining why she had to quit her job at Evenflo. Of course many of you also clicked on the ads of my great advertisers and checked out their products and services. I put a lot of care into working with the right types of companies and I hope you'll continue to support them as they support me.

• Looking at search terms is always fun. Some of the search terms that brought a lot of people to my blog (other than the name of the blog itself), included n*ked children (sigh, yes I modified that because I don't need MORE of that traffic), unethical business practices (love that one!), it takes a village to raise a child, maslow's hierarchy of needs for children, co-sleeping safety, and breastfeeding calories (each search term linked here to the post it takes people to).

Any wishes for 2012?

We're part way through the Carnival of Toddlers right now, which is something I put together based on a strong interest in content about toddlers from my readers.

As we move into 2012, once the Carnival of Toddlers is wrapped up, are there other topics or issues that you're hoping I'll cover?

Image credit: danielmoyle

Comments

[Jill @BabyRabies]

I love all the attention to detail you have when it comes to stats and listening to your readers! As a blogger, I think there's a lot to learn from you :) Happy new year!

[phdinparenting]

Thanks Jill. Happy New Year to you too. :)

[Rae]

I would love to see posts on transitioning a child into school as I have one about to start Kinder in Sept.

[Liz]

Another great year for you, Annie - well done! I'd love to hear more about how you handle sibling issues. I also have really enjoyed your videos, especially the covering up one. You seem to have a knack for doing them well, so I look forward to the next one. Happy New Year!

[phdinparenting]

Thanks Liz! :)

What type of sibling issues are you thinking of? Anything in particular?

[Liz]

Well, we have all of them in spades, it seems! Name-calling, constant putdowns ("why is X always so stupid?"), even physical fights - and not just between the 10 yo and the 7 yo, but involving the 3 yo, too. I feel like in general we handle the rivalry for parental attention pretty well and manage decent amounts of 1-on-1 time with each of them, but it's surviving the daily sibling strife that is getting me down lately.