Parentbloggers and Privacy – What Happens When Kids Grow Up?
This is something that I have been musing on for a few days. There are a lot of “Parentbloggers” out there at the moment and I won’t knock them – some of them I really enjoy reading. But what happens when the cute little toddler becomes a pre-pubescent bundle of hormones, then a teenager. Will the Mummyblogger still blog about her children, and can you really do this for over a decade without the friends of the children finding out and taking the piss?
I guess that many will find that the store of “amusing things that the children have done today” tales dries up. Not that children over 7 or 8 years are not amusing, mine often crack me up, but I am becoming more aware of what I post about them.
My daughter knows that I have a blog – she has even published her first story on the blog (did you notice that bit of stealth boasting?). She does not read my blog yet, but I know that at some point she might and if I have written about her it may embarrass her.
We are coming out of the “My Mummy is great” and into <eyeroll> “OFGS, Mum, stop embarrassing me” territory. I noticed recently when my mum told me a funny story about something that my children did, that my daughter cringed a little. Being centre of the attraction is fine, but there is a fine line between them feeling that we are laughing with them or laughing at them.
Some parents don’t seem to mind about embarrassing their children. I can recall friend’s parents who would belittle them in front of their friends, for a “joke”. And how about this guy who wears a different dress up costume every day to see his teenager off to school. WTF is he thinking? Kudos to his son for eventually accepting his dad’s antics. But I don’t agree with the anchor’s comment, “You are a good dad”.
What do you think? If you blog about your kids, do you have a line that you won’t cross?
11 Comments
A Modern Military Mother
Yes, I think there is truth, there is metaphor, there is cabaret and there is analysis. You have to judge how much you share. It’s a fine balance. I think you’ll find that Mummy Bloggers will become Empty Nest Bloggers and then evolve into Granny Bloggers! Non?
mmelindor
Not sure I want to be contemplating being a GrannyBlogger just yet.
Stitch This
I always worry that if you only blog about your children your centre of gravity is ‘off’. Yes they are the most precious thing etc etc but you don’t have to lose yourself in them. So I guess you’d end up with empty blog syndrome and have to fill it with something else. Enter cooking and craft blogs!
mmelindor
I have never been one to define myself through my children, and have always been careful not to lose myself in my mummyness. Cooking and craft blogs – can never have too many of them!
Ella
I was wondering this myself having started a blog about my family recently. I guess I hopefully won’t only be blogging about my children, but about my life in general. So when my children are no longer such a huge part of that I’ll just be blogging about whatever shapes my life then.
mmelindor
Yes, that is a good start. I like your blog, by the way, and will be following your posts.
Robyn
Well, I was a blogger before I was a mummy so I imagine I’ll be a blogger after he’s old enough to say ‘stop embarrassing me mother!’
But I do wonder about some the mummy bloggers who blog about nothing but their children. Do they have nothing else going on?
mmelindor
I think that I blog less about my children because they are in the house alone with them all day. More or less. Whereas my children are at school and I am able to do other things, and see friends who don’t have children. It does widen my horizons a bit. If I had started blogging when my two were babies I might have blathered on about potty training and the best dummies.
Jennifer
A really interesting thing to ponder. When I chose my blog name, I deliberately tried to choose one that was about me rather than about my children or the fact that I’m a ‘mummy’. But I do tend to blog mainly about them at the moment, because they are the main thing going on in my life at the moment while they are so small, and I do enjoy writing about them.
I’ll probably still be blogging about them when they’re older, but hopefully also more about myself. It’s nice to be able to share other things that I get up to, like crafts, with other like minded people.
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Beth @plasticrosaries
My children will probably always feature on my blog unless they express a desire not to. Some things are off limits to me because they’re too personal even in the early stages such as potty training and other things that my girls could deem embarrassing in the future.
I’m sure my thoughts and perceptions will change as they age though…