Is Mommy Blogging Exploitation?
The Toronto Gobe and Mail published s story yesterday in the Technology section of their paper with the incongruous title “No, I fine. I put pee-pee in toilet” The article brought into question the ethics of mommy blogging – where parents blog daily almost obsessively about the babies and children’s lives. Is it moral to write about yout childs life> Do you have a right to share everything ? One of the paretns intervied did make my eyes bug out a little bit
Catherine Connors sees her daughter and her blog Her Bad Mother as intimately intertwined. “In a way I think of her as my property, my work of art,” she says from her home in Bowmanville, Ont. “She’s a work in progress that I’m involved in. To that extent, I have some licence to be public about having her as my muse.”
A work of art? her property??? Wow. It may be one thing to justify by saying it makes you a better parent to express your ideas on thoughts but to say you are justified because you OWN your child and they are your muse?
I was particularly interested in the idea that many parents cannot walk away from their blogs despite growing uneasiness because they have become dependent on the income generated from advertisers.
The article struck a nerve with my – oddly I had been thinking about the right to share some of my own personal childhood experiences on a personal blog I own. Some of the information would be potentially harmful to others- did I have the right to expose information that affected my life greatly- after all it is MY story too- or is the potential damage to others outweigh my “need” to share?
I will say i go to great length to make sure I do not use my kids real names, I do not use photos of them nor would I disclose potentially harmful or embarrassing information. Some of the things that have happened with my kids and parenting challenges I have had I have wanted to share or discus- but I have stopped. Revealing information that may betray a confidence or hurt some I care about even if I felt it would make my blog more interesting or readable or help me become a better parent.
How much information is too much? Is talking about bed wetting okay> Would your son be ashamed if he knew you were sharing his deepest secrets online? Would the ethics sharing personal family stories matter if it meant you could make up to $40,000 a months as some people think mommy blogger Heather Armstrong does o her blog Dooce
?
I have actually rarely come across a blog where I though a parent had crossed the line. I began my “life” on the Internet when I joined a pregnant moms list serv on onelist in 1996. It was a godsend to me. I know for a fact I am a better parent because I have been able to share information and hear other people stories. I don’t feel that I have ever compromised my children’s emotional safety because of something I shared nor do I think I make money off of them.
I should also say I don’t write any blogs that chronicle my kids lives because it goes outside my comfort zone and I am not sure about the ethics of it. I certainly don’t think they are bad and don’t have a problem with others doing it- most parents are very creful about names and personal info, etc. I do know when I started a parent blog a few years ago I was scared off when looking at analytics I saw a scary number of hits from people who were using creepy search terms.
I wonder what others think? Is it ethical to share your kids stores on a blog? Are your bad parenting moments fodder for other peoples entertainment? Is it okay to make money on a blog about your kids lives>
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