Curse of the Mommy Bloggers - Guest Post!

I occasionally have time to actually read other people's blogs, and one thing led to another, which led me to Slappy In The Face. Something about her posts really spoke to me, even though it's not about little kids, crafts, making bento, or even food in any way. Maybe I read her blog for ME, rather than to be a better mom or to get fun ideas. It's nice to read about someone as messed up as me, who pulled her life together and made it work. Who actually talks about it!
So we arranged a post-swap. [A free T-shirt bribe for me may have been mentioned as well...] I hope you enjoy a little sampling of her honesty, wit, and depth. Maybe tomorrow I can post our cute lunches from this week!

Curse of the Mommy Bloggers

 

Every “mommy blogger” out there is eventually going to have come to the realization that their kids don’t want stories about them wetting the bed out on the Internet for the whole world to see.  Some pretty famous bloggers have already had to censor themselves where their kids are concerned, because the kids see the constant updating of their actions as an invasion of their privacy.  So where do we, as bloggers, draw the line between what is our life and what are the lives of our children? 

I struggle with this rather often.  I am not the typical “mommy blogger” in that I talk about my childhood being raised by a hoarder and a prescription drug addict.  I talk about my own addiction issues.  I talk about our money problems.  I talk about anxiety.  I talk about depression.  I talk about my crazy life which includes stories about my five teenagers … because they contribute a lot to the craziness.

My kids don’t know about my blog and I know that it’s only a matter of time before they find out about it. So while walking last night, Derek and I discussed the possible fall-out that could come from them discovering that I have documented their really stupid decisions in a public way.  Derek just looked at me and said, “well … was it all true?” 

“Yes, it was.”

“Well then they can’t sue you for slander.” 

…. and we didn’t say anything else about it.

So I have to put away the fear that some day they are going to find out that I have a “secret life” and be angry about it, because I don’t write it for them …. I write it for me (and all of the other parents of teenagers who have been through rough times and can still laugh about it).