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Saturday, November 22, 2008

On The Same Page

Of Live Mint sharing our thought so bloging about our kids, posting their pictures and whether or not we violate their privacy that way.
I reproduce the article here also.
The baby bloggers
From the time their baby got potty-trained to his first scrawl to any number of photos of his growing years--blogging parents can’t seem to stop talking about their tots. Is this an invasion of a child’s privacy? Or is it just the baby album updated in the digital era? Four bloggers tell us what they think:
Seema Chowdhry

It is a virtual scrapbook of a child’s growing years
Riti
http://itchingtowriteblogs.blogspot.com
I have been blogging about my twin sons for eight months now. I find it easier to type what I feel rather than write it down in baby scrapbooks or journals. Writing a journal can be limiting, but with a blog I have been able to do so much more in
terms of pictures, recording events etc. I don’t think writing a blog about your children is an invasion of their privacy. For me, this blog is more about me as a mother and the person I am as I bring up them up. I want my sons to know me as this woman 20 years down the line when they read the blog and are able to understand all that went into bringing them up. Also, this is a platform for me to connect with other mothers.
NM*
http://anirudhsworld.blogspot.com/
This is my way of making a memory scrapbook for my son. It is a record of his antics, his conversations with me, his images and all the little things he does. If it were not for this blog, I would have forgotten these stories. I used to worry about uploading pictures and about sickos seeing them, but now I believe that you can’t always live in fear. Also, with a blog you have the option to put checks in place. If I don’t like a comment, I can delete it; if at some point I feel that the blog is attracting the wrong kind of traffic, I will make it private.
*Name withheld on request
It is an invasion of a child’s right to privacy
Sowmya
http://shallowthgts.blogspot.com/
I am, and always have been, against blogging about one’s kids even though I am a parent. It is a violation of their privacy. Once they grow up, how will you tell your kids not to post their pictures online when you have been doing that? Are these mothers really unaware of paedophiles lurking on the Web? You keep only 10% of your child’s identity private by not revealing his/her name and your address but violate the rest 90% by posting pictures. Paedophiles do not need names, they need pictures. Remember the times when your parents asked you to sing a song in front of the guests, but you wanted to go hide under the table? Some of these blogs are just that, but in front of the whole online world.
Sridala Swami
http://spaniardintheworks.blogspot.com/
I have one child and I feel that my life with my child should not be up for public consumption. I blog to have another life from the one I live every day. If I continue to bring my child into my online world, I would have no reason to blog. Parents have a responsibility towards their children and must decide how vulnerable they make them to stalkers or to those who might use images without their consent.
Also, if you blog to create a memory scrapbook, keep it offline. I think anyone who starts a blog wants readers and that’s why private online journals don’t work for them.

10 comments:

Monika said...

Phew.......this got me feeling uncomfortable.

How do we know said...

nicely done article, and i think i know the author too.
Personally, i go with the views of Sridala, but to each their own. You and a lot of other mommy bloggers like blogging abt ur kids, and why not! Not all the world is full of paedophiles.. it is also full of warm, fuzzy friends whom u only meet online..the good comes with the bad.. and in this case, i m sure the good kind of outweighs the bad.

How do we know said...

oh, and btw, it IS possible to have an online journal that others cannot see. I have one. It is there that i record my personal diary.

Mama - Mia said...

oh well! i think its purely to each one his own.

its like a never ending debate. i post Cubby's like here and post his pictures. the day i feel uncomfortable about it once he is a little older, perhaps i will make it private or not put up pictures. till then, mommy blogging is here to stay. at least for me! :)

cheers!

abha

Anonymous said...

I agree with others that blogging is very personnel; it is like inviting everyone to read your diary. If you want to keep a record of events happened in your kids life then keep it, but privately, if you find it easier to type than write then type it and keep it privately, why you want the whole “www” to know when they potty trained, when they start cycling, where did they go, when did the grandparents visited them etc. etc..
As I read it I see that not only the kids were discussed here but also the whole family and extended family were in discussion. Every stage of the kids photos been posted is intrusion of their privacy, do you think when your boys are older they will spend time reading the blogging mummy wrote? Why there is a necessity for you to share the thoughts, happiness or bitterness with the www? It will be very modest if everything is kept between the four walls, make it a journal and get it printed and give it to the kids when they are old, that way they feel that their identity is not shared with millions and will be happy to read about them at their leisure.

Itchingtowrite said...

Anon- wow - and u still read my blog... right thru when and how my kids got potty trained, when they started cycling etc- it really interested you right?
and off course you anons have poor grammar. forgive me if i feel like fishing out my kids red sketch pen and correcting your language.
and probably i don't really wish to be modest?

the mad momma said...

awww... anon's concern is so touching, na itchy? a stranger who sits around reading potty training details while disagreeing all the while.

i am also amused by the self righteous tone that people who dont blog about their kids seem to have.

they get so mad if you similarly told them that you think its deplorable to leave kids in daycare, stories of child abuse, dumping kids on grandparents etc. its not as though they make decisions for their kids or lives that we particularly approve of.

in this case i think the article is poorly written and badly structured. what is the point of asking random people to comment on another's decision that doesnt concern them in the least?

B o o said...

Hey, that was nt just any anon. That was the "www"! *shudders*

Itchingtowrite said...

MM- if i am right- it is someone from UK and I hav labeled that IP address as troll from UK!
Boo- as i go thru the stat counter i see the www reading the shoddy potty details and I too shudder on their behalf!! ha ha

Unknown said...

Iss okay Itchy - to each his own - the anon's just scared of the "www" and is sharing its concern with you . That's not so bad .
But then, Anon , you neednt go around reading about the kiddies' potty details if you're so against it .