Monday, November 26, 2007

None of my business

There is a question that has been nagging at me. It’s about the Mommy Bloggers, those gifted writers who can spin endless entertaining stories from the antics of their young children. Especially those who earn an income in this way.

My question is, what is going to happen in just a few years, when their kids get old enough to have an opinion about being the subject of so much publicity? There is material online on everything from their tantrums to their bowel movements. There will come a day when they become aware of how exposed they are, and I can only imagine that they won’t like it very much.

I guess most parents come up with silly nicknames for their kids to try to take the edge off the stresses of full diapers (Sir Poopsalot!) and other challenges (Miss Screamy-pants!). No harm done as long as these are retired before the kid gets a firm grasp on the spoken word. But what if they are recorded for all posterity? Kids learn to go online at an awfully early age these days. There is so much material for playground torture in these blogs that it makes me cringe. I mean, anal suppositories! Posting that information online is like handing a loaded gun to the bullies.

Now, all of these women are very intelligent, and I’m sure they have thought about this issue, especially if the family income depends upon their online writing. I’m really curious to know what they’re planning to do. Is deleting certain posts from the archives an option? Once information gets online, it has a certain staying power, even if the original source disappears. What is going to happen to these kids?

All that being said, I don’t feel a need to “save” these children from whatever their destiny is. All the families involved seem to be healthy and supportive. I’m sure they’ll work it out in the end. I’m just sayin’, is all. I guess it’s because I was at the receiving end of so much playground torture that I’m a bit sensitive to these issues. Good luck to them, is all I can say!

5 comments:

kate said...

You make good points here. I find it hard reading mommy blogs ... being there, done that ... and while I enjoyed the antics of my own child, my tolerance for reading about other peoples' kids is limited. As you say, kids grow up and then what does one write about?

Stewie said...

Wow. What a fantastic post and, as kate said, great points.

I stay away from the mommy blogs, for various reasons, one of which I don't find them entertaining. That's not to say they aren't well written, but I'm not interested in the lives of kids that I don't know.

Sparkling Red said...

Thanks for your words of praise!

I have an ongoing fascination with the mommy blogs, as a way of partially understanding what other women go through as they raise their kids. It's the experience of the majority, so I want to know about it even if I don't go there myself.

Danifred said...

As a mommy blogger (who doesn't earn any money for doing it), I have to say that I don't blog for anyone but myself and my out-of-state family. If google had a feature that allowed me to make my blog password entry only, I would do it in a heartbeat. (Versus their current feature that only allows email invitations). Even before my daughter was born, I had plenty to think about and say, and I am confident that once she has grown up a bit, I still will. I hope that I remain an interesting enough person that I still have plenty to talk about long after my nest has been emptied!
As far as the bullying goes... kids are mean and they will find ANY reason to taunt and ridicule, regardless of what ammunition they are given.
Just thought I'd share the other side :)

Sparkling Red said...

HI Danifred,

You're right about bullying. Kids will always think of something to make fun of once they've found a target.

Thanks for adding your view. It's not a real debate until we've heard from both sides. :-)