Comments on: Should We Be Writing About Our Kids? Part One

By: cate

cate — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 02:27:37 +0000

Oh, man, I have no clue. I started my blog when I was in such a postpartum/new diagnosis tailspin, there’s no way I was even thinking about things like pseudonyms.

I try not to put anything really identifiable. No last names. No exact location. (Although I’m sure there are tons of clues, if anyone really cared.)

I don’t know. I guess I’m thinking that it’s an evolving story, and we’ll figure it out later, if my kids are hurt or offended we can talk about it then. But for now I feel like my blog has helped me enormously, so my kids have benefited from it (how crazy would I be without it? I shudder to think.)

By: Lisa

Lisa — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 01:01:31 +0000

My baby (now 19) vacillates between not reading my blog for months at a time, telling me to write about her more and, every now and then during an embarrassing moment declaring, “Mom, do NOT blog about this!” So, either way, you’re screwed.

By: stacey

stacey — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:53:06 +0000

haha! i like todd’s idea!

By: Suzanne Whitaker

Suzanne Whitaker — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:00:46 +0000

Amy, nice subject. On the topic of pseudonyms, I used “writing about my children” as a fear tactic. I would often tell my son and daughter when they were procrastinating or simply taking way too long to complete a task that I was going to “publish that children’s book about ‘Piddler & Dawdler’ after all. I even showed them rough sketches of what they looked like in this form. “No Mommy! No Mommy! Don’t do it! …Which one am I?” Somehow that mattered. Now that they are older, it only matters that I write about them EQUALLY right down the middle!

Thanks, Amy! Hope you’re well.

By: starrlife

starrlife — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:16:18 +0000

This is akin to my post “blogging is not Journalism 2″ (http://starrlife.wordpress.com/2010/07/02/blogging-is-not-journalism-2/). I read the Dana Shapiro article. Hmmm….
I use a pseudonym for myself and do not put my daughters name on the blog but will share both names with others in comments or emails. I’ve caught some disdain from others who consider a pseudonym as underhanded or untrustworthy somehow. I know my friend, who is a writer/journalist believes it is essential to put ones name on ones work. But I have been through a blog war (my first blog) and it turned out to be good to have as little true identifiers as possible in that situation.
As for what my daughter would think- I don’ t put anything on the blog I wouldn’t say to anyone IRL or show anyone. That either means my daughter is always embarrassed by me or I’m careful
I certainly would not graphically photograph their sexual parts for sure!
Great topic Amy (or should I call you Tooth Fairy).

By: Karen

Karen — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 05:02:42 +0000

#1: I think Todd would make an amazing parent.
#2: My kids would kill me if I wrote what really happens around here.
#3: It’s more important that I make up a fake name (I can’t spell pseudonym) for my husband Mr. Shtucker Bacher (Todd, help me out here…you are better at this.) He’s the one I really can’t write about.
(I used spell check so pseudonym was corrected.)

By: Todd

Todd — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 04:32:09 +0000

My professional opinion is that you should refer to your children under carefully chosen pseudonyms. Perhaps Ariana Knickerbocker or Diddly Squatenberger. Or something with a more ethnic flair such as Nosey Nosenstein. Then, even though they might suspect that you are writing about them, they can’t really prove it.
Of course, if it were me, I would just write the most dreadfully embarrassing things about my children just so I could watch their reaction when they become computer literate. Things like “Diddly [see? I'm using a pseudonym already] picked her nose and farted simultaneously today. Plus she was wearing striped shorts with the zipper open and a plaid shirt that was inside out. In short, she was a mess.”
Don’t worry. I’m not a parent. For obvious reasons.