Parenting Teens: Teens That Blog
Tuesday, November 18, 2008 at 12:00AM
There is a building debate in the mom blog world about if or not mom bloggers should be posting about their teens. The debate seems to focus on the early adapter moms who started blogging before their kids could read and now the kids are objecting to what they are reading being written about them.
Since I have only been blogging for about 6 months I have no dog in that fight. If I didn’t write about my kids, I would have nothing to write about. My kids get to complain about what I write to their friends whose moms don’t blog. They get sympathy; I have an unending supply of blog post material and a handy parental warning. I even heard my husband say to one of the kids “Watch it or you are going to become a blog post!”
Posting about my teens is no problem. My teens posting about me, big problem. I have a child who blogs in the old fashion sense of the word. She has an online diary read by her friends, their mothers and it seems a good half the world’s population of teens.
My daughter is a brilliant writer. Brilliance is in her genes. She is insightful, quirky and edgy. She is good with words. She can take an ordinary situation, give it a twist and delight her readers. She could be a G-rated Daily Show writer and supply her own video for each segment.
The problem is I usually only appear in her blog when she is mad at me. The extensive vocabulary she possesses get put to impressive use in letting the world know what an mean mother this child has. Who knew a teen could be so expressive with a G rated vocabulary. You would never know from reading her blog she has a father both active and interested in her life. There are siblings that appear when she is mad at them or they have done something nice for her. No other family member has reached my Attila the Mom Status.
I don’t like it.
I threatened censorship with a previous blog she had but have decided against that route with this one. Unless she starts building bombs in the basement or running numbers, than all freedom of expression becomes void.
At least her latest blog isn’t titled “Mommy Dearest”.
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Reader Comments (5)
Wow, I don't know what I would do if my teen posted stuff like that about me. I probably would take the same route you have and sit down to discuss with her about being a little more balanced in her "reporting." (Yes, I'm a journalist. LOL)
My teenager sometimes rolls her eyes when I say, "I'm going to blog about that." But she -- overall -- enjoys reading my blog and knowing I talk about her and her siblings. I reserve my posts about her to mostly positive and medical updates, but the younger kids -- who can't read yet -- get almost all their business put in the blogo-streets.
This is a great topic. We should ask other mom bloggers of teenagers how they're fairing. :D
It's probably better that you know what she feels and what (if anything) she is doing about it! My daughter knows I blog but she has a fit if I mention her (so therefore, I don't) in my blogs. Now, if she blogged about me, I could justifiably say anything I wanted to about her in mine!
Interesting. I think my blog is sorta boring as I don't really tell all the truth about my teen daughter. I'm not sure what I'd do if she started blogging about me and being negative. New thoughts! Love it - good post.
That is something I am just beginning to have to think about. My 13 yo son recently asked if he could start a blog to show off his graphic creations...I may have think on it a bit more - don't want to become Mommy Dearest either :)
It's a good thing that there were no blogs when I was a teen - it would NOT have been a good thing. Typical teen angst.
If you can, just wait until she's around 25 ... then she'll be your best friend. It'll be worth all the anger, I promise.
Here's hoping you'll both be blessed that way.
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