2020 was an interesting year to say the least. Let’s set COVID aside for a minute to see what else people were interested in during 2020.

Below are the themes that ranked with mums of the shire based on our most-read articles. Did you miss any of them? It’s not too late to see what everyone else was getting excited about.

From the least to most popular, here are the top 10 things that piqued your interest in the crazy year gone by.

 

Your top 10 interests in 2020

10. Supporting small business

2020 was unspeakably cruel to a lot of small businesses, but we were thrilled to see a surge in support for lots of local and smaller Shire businesses after publishing this article on Why supporting small businesses has never been more important.

9. Humour

The satirical online newspaper, The MOTS Mail, was a late addition to our blog in 2020, but it proved to be a quick hit. It was never a huge gamble that after the year that threw us all around like ragdolls, you could use a laugh. Your favourite funny article was the one reporting on the hospital visitor told to leave after asking a new mum if she would “go again”.

8. Home improvements

As we all sat at home staring at walls we wished were a different colour, outdated cabinetry and ugly tiles, we collectively started to dream about one thing: improving our homes. So when we published guides to Recommended Tradespeople in the Shire and Businesses that’ll make your homes look amazing it was unsurprising that both were popular with mums of the Shire.

7. At-home activities

Yep, when we weren’t allowed to leave our homes mums began to search for in-home entertainment that didn’t involve a screen. The Busy Kids series aimed to help parents entertain and educate their kids by providing recommendations on what to play, create, bake, watch, read and listen to, which all revolved around different themes. Your favourite themes were Whatever the Weather and All about Australia and you also enjoyed this article, which provided different online sources for entertaining kids at home.

6. Hair and Beauty

The announcement that there was a beauty salon with babysitting facilities within a stone’s throw from the Shire blew you all away! A huge number of you read our article on Sydney’s first beauty salon with child-minding and if you recently read our article on Sutherland Shire Services to help you Survive Christmas then you’ll know there’s now a salon in Caringbah that offers a creche too! Quite a few of you also turned to our local business directory to find hairdressers, makeup artists, spray tanners and day spas– and why wouldn’t you?!

5. Holiday spots

After being briefly locked in our homes, we weren’t allowed to travel anywhere except NSW. Everyone was in search of places to get away and this article on family-friendly holiday spots including farmstays, beach holidays, mountain and wine country getaways in NSW proved to be exactly what you were looking for.

4. Wet-weather activities

Cabin-fever seems to hit pretty hard amongst the families in the Shire and when the grass was getting a good soaking the only thing anyone wanted to know was “What is there to do in the Sutherland Shire when it’s wet outside?” So lots of you read the article Where to go when it’s wet in the Shire and some of you even revisited our Busy Kids article on wet weather-themed activities.

3. Food, health and fitness

When restaurants were closed, people were eager to find out who was doing delivery and what they were offering. Keen to avoid big supermarkets, the small local fresh food and veggie delivery services absolutely boomed, which we couldn’t be happier about and you should continue to support them if you can. Here’s where to find your guide to the Sutherland Shire’s best food delivery services. Likely after consuming some amazing food, you were equally keen to hear about health and fitness solutions. Even though this article on pram walks in the Shire is an older one, it continues to be very popular and plenty of you found the answers you were looking for in the fitness category of our business directory.

2. What’s on

Even during a year in which events were cancelled for about 50% of the time, you all wanted to know what was on! The Mums of the Shire calendar remained steadily sought-out. It continues to be an excellent source if you’re looking for local family-friendly events. The other incredibly popular question with our mums is “What’s on for kids in the school holidays?” If this is a question you’re currently seeking answers to then check out the Mums of the Shire guide to School Holiday Activities for all kinds of Kids as well as our regularly updated school holiday listings

And the winner is…

1. Playgrounds

Mums across the Shire have spoken. There were a stack of playground upgrades in the Sutherland Shire in 2020 and you all loved hearing about every single one. Though only published in September, our article on The Best Playgrounds in the Shire, has received more visits than any other blog post this year. Here you can find all our reviews of Sutherland Shire playgrounds and in case you missed it, you might also like to follow along with our new series “A Day Out in…” where we explore playgrounds, family-friendly dining options, bushwalks, play centres and more in suburbs all over the Shire.

Thank you for being part of our 2020

Thanks so much to everyone who took the time to visit our website, read our blog or tell your friends about Mums of the Shire this year. Our supportive community continues to grow and we look forward to bringing you even more great, local information to help you on your motherhood journey.

If there’s something you’d like us to write about please get in touch with us at [email protected] or direct message us on Facebook or Instagram. And if there’s something YOU’D like to write about, we invite you to check out our guest contributor guidelines and make a submission. 

Here’s to a bigger and better 2021!