i seem to be talking a bunch about moving my blog over — and in fact, i think we’ll move mine and kathy’s over in the next few weeks. one of the things we’re a little stumped on, though, is what to do about the kid. more specifically, we obviously post a ton of info and pictures about him for our friends and family — and when we write about him we usually use his name. but as he gets older, i guess we’re getting a little more concerned about his privacy, and, more importantly, his safety.
some friends of ours just use their kids’ names next to pictures in blogs. other friends of ours only refer to their kids by an alias, so that any potential lurkers won’t be able to connect names to photos. we’re not really sure what to do. on the one hand, better safe than sorry, even though it’ll make the writing seem a little stilted. on the other hand, we live in a pretty hyper-connected time, and it’s probably a losing battle ultimately, although he doesn’t have his own myspace page yet, thankfully.
so we don’t know. any opinions?
I think if you are already using his name and such, there is no reason to suddenly stop. As someone who knows the pros and con of the web, I’m fairly confident you can keep your son safe, plus teach him as he grows older to do the same
🙂
I think if you are already using his name and such, there is no reason to suddenly stop. As someone who knows the pros and con of the web, I’m fairly confident you can keep your son safe, plus teach him as he grows older to do the same
🙂
I’m someone who had been using her son’s name, and then suddenly stopped. There came a point when I started to be nervous that a stranger who’d seen the blog could approach him on the street or at the playground and call him by name. Many other parents said, “well, he won’t be out on the street without you anyway, right?” Yes and no. We have a nanny who takes him out, and while I trust her, she may not always be clear on whom we know and whom we don’t. Plus, there’s going to come a day — this September, in fact — when our kid goes to school. By then I hope we’ll have explained “stranger danger” to him, but for now…
I’m not sure if referring to him by an alias helps at all, and of course many of my archive pages still refer to him by name (because I need to do the replacements by hand to preserve context/meaning). Still, it’s something.
Anyway, all that’s a long-winded way of saying that I’m still not sure what the right thing to do is here, and there are nights when this subject keeps me awake. The desire to keep my child safe and his privacy protected is totally at odds with my need to share what’s going on in *my* life — of which he’s obviously a big part.
I was waiting to see when you were going to bring this up. There isn’t a good technical solution here though VOX, flickr, and others try. On my blog, I’m the only guinea pig and I don’t blog about family and also usually don’t post up pictures of other people in it besides me.
Normal people just email pics of their kids to their friends and family and give updates. Also, the whole kids pictures on Christmas cards is the way to go.
Blogging about your son’s childhood probably should be kept private/require log-in. I can understand why parents would want to blog about their kids though. It sucks that people have to think twice about doing it.
I’m someone who had been using her son’s name, and then suddenly stopped. There came a point when I started to be nervous that a stranger who’d seen the blog could approach him on the street or at the playground and call him by name. Many other parents said, “well, he won’t be out on the street without you anyway, right?” Yes and no. We have a nanny who takes him out, and while I trust her, she may not always be clear on whom we know and whom we don’t. Plus, there’s going to come a day — this September, in fact — when our kid goes to school. By then I hope we’ll have explained “stranger danger” to him, but for now…
I’m not sure if referring to him by an alias helps at all, and of course many of my archive pages still refer to him by name (because I need to do the replacements by hand to preserve context/meaning). Still, it’s something.
Anyway, all that’s a long-winded way of saying that I’m still not sure what the right thing to do is here, and there are nights when this subject keeps me awake. The desire to keep my child safe and his privacy protected is totally at odds with my need to share what’s going on in *my* life — of which he’s obviously a big part.
I was waiting to see when you were going to bring this up. There isn’t a good technical solution here though VOX, flickr, and others try. On my blog, I’m the only guinea pig and I don’t blog about family and also usually don’t post up pictures of other people in it besides me.
Normal people just email pics of their kids to their friends and family and give updates. Also, the whole kids pictures on Christmas cards is the way to go.
Blogging about your son’s childhood probably should be kept private/require log-in. I can understand why parents would want to blog about their kids though. It sucks that people have to think twice about doing it.
This is precisely what I use Vox for these days. It has changed the way I blog about my kids. Before I would be very careful not to post names, pictures, etc. On Vox I’m able to specify who can see what and it has made a big difference. Bath pictures are just for the “family.” Random skateboarding pictures are for “friends and family.” And posts about a great movie are for everyone. I know that I am biased but it has been a fantastic solution for me and my whole family.
DAVID
This is precisely what I use Vox for these days. It has changed the way I blog about my kids. Before I would be very careful not to post names, pictures, etc. On Vox I’m able to specify who can see what and it has made a big difference. Bath pictures are just for the “family.” Random skateboarding pictures are for “friends and family.” And posts about a great movie are for everyone. I know that I am biased but it has been a fantastic solution for me and my whole family.
DAVID
I think that some privecy should be kept while doing the blogging, and while using the pictures of kids and the family members. Thought there no doubt that the concerned person is using the pictures of their family would like to consider them to promote or give exposure across the web, but cons are not in a very few numbers.
some friends of ours just use their kids’ names next to pictures in blogs. other friends of ours only refer to their kids by an alias, so that any potential lurkers won’t be able to connect names to photos
I'm torn on this issue. I want my kids to have all the tech knowledge they can, but it's tough right now. I remember getting my first computer under the artificial Christmas tree when I was just eight years old. How much things have changed since then.
Kids priviacy is a very prominent issue
in this case of the blogg,pice stc
I can't wait to get our Pre-Lit Christmas tree out and start trimming it.