Tales from the Mommy Trenches

As with any of my advice posts, I write this because I am as guilty of this as anyone, specifically, over-share about my kids on a public forum. The thing we forget, especially if our kids are little, is that someday they will be old enough to read and see all that stuff that we posted about them. So if you take that into consideration and come to the conclusion that your child will be really embarrassed about it, you probably shouldn’t share it.

In a similar vein, don’t complain about your children over social media if it isn’t something you would announce in person to her sixth grade class. That might be an excessively high standard, since sixth grade girls are embarrassed about EVERYTHING, but perhaps a good thing to at least strive for. Also, coming from the perspective of struggling with infertility, it really makes it sound like you are taking your children for granted, whether you mean it that way or not. A good private vent to your mom friends can help air out that frustration to someone who has been there, and your kids will never know. (Not that I have ever done that, kids. You were always perfect angels).

I know our kids can be hilarious, but as they get older, you have to make sure the stories you share about them are laughing with them, not at them. It sounds silly, but it is easy to forget that someday these littles will be adults. Hopefully they won’t judge us too harshly for making them the first generation to have their entire childhood documented online for all posterity to view at their leisure. It’s a whole new frontier out there, and we’re still learning the ropes. My goal is that my children will look back on all these posts and be glad I documented their childhoods, not mortified. No pressure.