THE BAMBINOS BLOG

When I first started blogging in October 2006, Kyle and Owen were 2-years-old, and Meera was not even on the horizon yet. I always thought that when K & O turned 5 or so I’d quit blogging for the sake of their privacy. But as time went on, and as blogging became such a big part of my own mental health, and as blogging became our primary (and, really, sole) form of memory-keeping, I abandoned my commitment to quit. There were other reasons too: blogging became much more popular, social media became the “norm” instead of the exception, and people have become much more accepting/tolerant/understanding of using public spaces for personal voices. Also– and probably most importantly– as my kids have come to understand more and more about our blog (and about my blogging, and about blogging in general), they’ve actually encouraged me — in their own ways, both implicit and overt — to keep on blogging. Rather than shying away from it, or feeling exposed by it, they have surprised me by being all for it.

However, for quite a long time now I’ve been struggling with how to move forward, in a child/age-appropriate way, that will incorporate my kids’ perspectives of situations, not just my own. And recently I’ve latched onto this idea: what if we experimented with the kids blogging from time to time? I’d never push it on them, but what if they wanted to do it? What if they wanted to post — for the exact same reasons I usually want to? They love going back and looking at memories on the blog, we often turn to it as a family to help us remember certain events or experiences, and the kids are starting to see the value of both the journaling aspect of the blog and the memory-keeping aspect of the blog.

So, I’ve been waiting for the right time to introduce this new thing: THE BAMBINOS BLOG. And tonight is the perfect night. We had a huge day today, and it is a perfect example of the sorts of things I’d like to let the bambinos — themselves — post about.

Tonight, it is Kyle posting. He’s posting about a momentous day in his (and our family’s) life. By allowing Kyle to blog about it, we’re allowing him to share the story— but only the story that he wants to share. Lots of details are left out. But that is ok— that is how every blog post always is— and at least this way, I can rest assured that the details in and out are the details that Kyle has selected (and in the case of tonight’s post, that Owen, too has approved).

I’m not sure how often the bambinos will blog. We’ll just experiment with it and see how it goes. It may or may not stick– but for tonight, I’m really happy to have the bambinos post this one. (See Kyle’s post below.)