Mommy Blogs

     Re. my letter to the editor: the paper published a response to my letter -- from the woman I wrote about! Just as I expected, she said she stood by what she said to the STM employee and that their jobs don't require military boots and a club. I guess I should have made it clear in my letter that I thought it reprehensible to insult someone you don't even know for doing his job rather than going to the STM itself to complain about uniform and procedures. Oh well.

    I have recently started reading a blog by Teresa M. Owen. I stumbled on her blog one way or another. The other day she wrote about mommy blogs, essentially women who blog about being moms-- like me. She wrote:

 

I expect parents to be tentative, at best, when it comes to broadcasting photos and anecdotes about their children.  Safety is only one reason.

I’ve often wondered at what point mommy-blogging turns harmful to the kids, moreso than just by capturing their awkward moments and capitalizing off of them.  Ironically, I think it’s when the mommy-blog shifts its focus to the painful realities of parenthood.

    When I read this I felt guilty. I remember when Facebook really took off and I was wondering if it was okay for parents to post photos, embarrassing or otherwise, of their young children. Is it really fair to them? Those photos will always be on the internet in some shape or form and it wasn't the kid who put them there.

    When I started blogging it was supposed to help me with freelance writing. Now that's on the back-burner and I write because I enjoy it, it's cathartic and it keeps family and friends informed about what I'm doing and what I'm thinking. My brother said last weekend that I'm so quiet he never knew what I was thinking and now because of my blog he gets to see what I'm all about. It's nice to be able to share myself with people.

    Eventually, as more time passed, I became more and more comfortable with talking about my life, especially about Jr. I wasn't afraid of posting photos. But what Teresa wrote makes me reconsider. Will Jr. find these images and posts one day and be upset? Will she resent the fact that I wrote about her and the difficulties of motherhood? Will she misunderstand and think I thought she was difficult and hard work? Because all of my moaning and lamenting and cries of desperation weren't about her; they were about me.

      Blogging isn't the same as journaling, although I agree there's a fine line. Believe it or not, I do censor a lot of what goes into my blog. My journal is a free for all, where I can write about whatever and whomever I want, without worrying about hurting someone's feelings or sounding politically correct or even correct grammar! It's entirely for me. My journals...I've been keeping a journal for a long time and I've kept all of them. Every once in awhile I like reading them to remind myself where I've been and how far I've come. But I'm not sure I would want Jr. to read those...

    The internet has been such a blessing. It's wonderful knowing you're not the only one out there having a hard time coping with being a mom. I like reading other mommy blogs. Sometimes they're funny (like the mom who explicitly told her relatives not to get her daughter any bunny loveys because they scared her and someone sent a HUGE stuffed bunny), sometimes they're sad (like Tripp) and sometimes they make you feel normal (or let's face it, superior because you would never do that). 

Am I betraying my daughter's trust or am I taking this too seriously?