I can't pinpoint the day it happened, but I have been given a directive from my 10 year old to refrain from sharing stories about her on my personal blog. In fact, two days before school started this year, she accidentally poked herself in the eye with a hanger, her eye started bleeding and she frantically screamed for me while simultaneously begging us to call 911. Luckily for us, our good friend is an optometrist and he managed to exam her on the spot and she thankfully did not cause serious injury to her eye. As I thought about how I was going to share the play by play of her little mishap with my readers, she pointed at me and said - "Mommy - you are not allowed to write about this on your blog."
So technically, even though I'm sharing this unfortunate story with you, since it's not actually residing on my personal blog, I figure I've found a loophole in the system. I mean, how could I not share the fact that my own daughter experienced a "Mommy Dearest" moment and purged her entire closet of wire hangers after the infamous eye incident. I mean that scene alone is classic fodder for a blog.
What concerns me now is that while I've found great joy over the years sharing the funniest moments from my family's life on my blog, I'm suddenly being policed - by my daughter, my son - who actually demands cash when I ask him to give his insights on his f
avorite Nintendo game to hit stores and even my husband, who has pretty much warned me not to write about anything that goes on in our household (like the fact that we just ran out of toilet paper and he's going to have to use paper towels until I get my butt over to Stop and Shop). Oh, and I can't share any embarrassing stories about cheating neighbors, annoying friends or my in-laws. So let's see. I can't write about my kids, my husband, extended family and our good friends. It's a good thing I'm not Dooce, because without good material from my family, I'm going to have to try my hand at fiction.
As my kids advance into their tween and teen years, what will I blog about if they're constantly telling me I can't write about them? Will I have to spy on other people's kids and then report back on their foibles but change the names to protect the innocent? Will I create a brand new blog under a nom de plume so I can throw my kids off the trail? Or maybe, I'll hire them to contribute content to my blog instead. Five bucks for a product review. Ten bucks to share the 411 on your latest school crush. 15 dollars to spill the beans on the kids who came home from school with lice, strep throat or swine flu. Had a run in with your best friend and now you hate each other? I'll slip you a 20 for that juicy story. You get the drift. Hey, I think I'm onto something. That way, I won't have to stay up half the night trying to not talk about all the crazy things that go on in my house and my kids will walk away with some extra lunch money.
All I have to say is thank goodness for NYC Moms Blog because from here on out, I've found the place where I'll be able to come clean and dish the dirt from daily life as a blogging mom.
