I’ve taken a hiatus from blogging. Mainly because I am fricken busy and its the first thing to put on the back burner. But also, I have been thinking about the possible long term effects of putting every last detail about my life out onto the interwebs.
Will my kids like to see this?
Do they want their lives documented?
What age should they start telling their own stories?
All these things circle around in my brain. Most of the time I fall squarely on the side of “Who cares? Everybody in their generation will be on the internet since birth. No one cares what I post.”
Then other times I think, “What if they don’t like it? What if they want to be private people and I am taking that choice away from them?”
Do NOT misunderstand…I do not have any irrational fears of being targeted by the illusive “bad guys” of the internet you hear urban legends/dateline news stories about. My concerns are not rooted in fear but in respect- Respect for the people my children are becoming, respect for them to grow up without of scrutiny strangers (ie. my high school classmates, the guys I used to bartend with, or second cousin of my mom’s aunt…etc*).*You guys are great but I’m not sure my children will care about who I used to drink beer in a field with in the 90’s, how I used to stay up til 3 am after closing the bar and counting our tips, or even know what a second cousin is…or is it first cousin once removed?*
What are we parents supposed to do about this “oversharing?” My children are a huge portion of my life. If I want to share my authentic self with the people of the world (or the 3 of you who may read this), how do I do that without including them? My life is so intertwined with them at this point that if I only share kid-free parts of myself it would only involve the kind of wine I am currently drinking, the latest HULU show I’m obsessed with and what meat and produce is on sale at Super One Foods. Riveting stuff huh?
My answer to the question of “Should we put it all out there?” : I don’t fucking know. The only thing I can do is follow my gut and let it rip. (If my kids don’t like it as they age, I can at least show them this post to let them know i thought about it…Right?)
I’ll keep posting, sharing and even revive the good ole blog-a-rooney here. I don’t think our story is necessarily extraordinary but maybe that’s exactly the reason to share it. Yes, we homeschool, yes we have a transgender child, yes we are hippie souls transplanted in the Northwoods but our experiences are strikingly similar to everyone else out in the world just finding their own way.
Most things I post fall into 3 categories-1) It’s cheeky/ironic/funny/sarcastic and sharing it with the tiny humans in my life doesn’t have the same satisfaction as getting “likes” on Facespace, or Twittergram.2) It’s something I feel passionately about- LGBT Rights, Women’s rights, Peaceful Parenting, world peace…Shit, let’s just classify this as being a good human. I am passionate about that.3) I think others can relate. After all, what is the point of social media other than to CONNECT right? I want to see what other people are doing. I hope others want to see what we are doing and find some camaraderie. It’s a way to get inspired, find validation and even form friendship that otherwise wouldn’t be possible. That can be pretty life-changing.
My posts may or may not include my kids. They may or may not be frequent. Sometimes they will be interesting to you and sometimes not. Hell, I am not sure which direction they will take.
What they will be is authentic. I promise to share our shit- the pretty stuff AND the not so pretty. The victories AND struggles. The super mom AND the zombie. My invincibility AND my fears.Because no matter how my kids feel about having their childhoods posted, tagged, or shared, at least they will know and see that it was real, and REAL is a powerful place to start.
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