Internet Blogging

Here's my dilema with Blogging.

On the one hand I believe blogs are the perfect medium to share stories and pics of the littles with family.  I have a family blog that is private and I have posted pics and names galore.  The biggest problem?  Older family members (ie: Grandparents) can't log in.  They just don't get it. It's not user friendly for them and having one more account, one more password, one more thing to remember...well it just doesn't work.  So I'm having a real problem with it.  I haven't posted anything for 2 years.  2 YEARS of memories they've missed out on.

I also think that it's a great way to do family history.  I love journaling and with technology the way it is, blogging is a great way to keep a record.  Print them off from time to time and add it to the collection.

Checking out blogs I like is something that fills me a little as a woman and a mom.  It's nice to get a new perspective once in a while, or realize that I'm not completely off the mark in the way I do things.

A have HUGE problem with the internet being a free-for-all when it comes to copy and paste.  I don't take other people's stuff and manipulate it for my own purposes and I definitely don't want some hack putting some twisted spin on my pics.  (Mmm...there's a special place in Hell for those people.)

Found this post and totally related.  Thankfully not because my kids thighs and/or other parts have been plastered all over icky websites exploiting children.  Not that I know of anyway, I'll be doing a search very soon, believe me.  But because I really do feel an urgent need to protect my kids from the sludge that's out there in cyber world.

This is another good post on technology and kids and the responsibilities of us as parents working with the  privileges of kids and today's technology.

How do I protect my self and my kids without living in a bubble?

I think first of all, being smart.  I'm not going to post a pic that I wouldn't pin up to a community bulletin board in the local grocery store.  I'm not going to plaster names, ages, and information where phony's can get it.  Even in this blog, the names of my kids are pseudo's.

Second of all I'm going to pray for inspiration and protection.  The world is just a bunch of opposites.  For everything yucky, filthy and double dipped in evil, there are good, wholesome, and pure alternatives.

Third of all I'm going to instill, talk about, and cram down the windpipe this same information to my kids.  They are amazing.  They are smart.  They are resilient.  They are also not bullet proof and not without fault.  They may mess up.  They may mess up big.  But I hope not.  I hope with our help they can learn to navigate in safe waters.

Technology is a blessing.  A blessing with a huge responsibility to use it for good.