Oh, The Glory/Hell Of It All

One of the hot-button topics among parent bloggers is this: when our kids eventually read our blogs, how much will the therapy cost?

Regular readers of this site, and those who read my other blog, have probably noticed that I rarely offer up a whole lot of dirt on the kid. It's not that he's not funny or interesting or "awwww"-inducing, and it's not like he doesn't, on a near-hourly basis, provide enough fodder to write a work of Proustian proportions. Truth be told - I keep the personal tales to a minimum because a)there are a lot of other bloggers out there who do a much better job of capturing the often mortifying episodes of three-year-old behavior and b)I really don't want to embarrass 16-year-old Lucas (and forthcoming daughter who will also eventually be able to read and use Google). Part of the parent's job is to, whenever possible, protect the child from pain and humiliation. And the stuff that we find hysterically funny might not seem that way to a kid trying to make his or her way through an often cruel and demeaning world.

So this morning, I find myself faced with a moral dilemma, a conundrum, if you will. Do I write about Lucas walking - strutting, actually - into the room, holding his plastic toy sword between his legs and yelling "I HAVE A GIANT PENIS!!! LOOK AT MY GIANT PENIS, DADDY!!!", or not?

Comments

[Trish]

Now the next step is to print this post out, put it in the baby book and forget about it. Next, when his girlfriend comes over and asks to see some baby photos, it'll be a nice surprise for all involved.

I have a whole folder of this stuff on my kids. They prefer I show it off to people but then again they are 4 and 2. Not much embaresses them now.

[whit]

I have no worries about embarrassing my kids on my blog(s). First of all, Al Gore will probably invent something new by the time they're teens, and second of all, I'm not teaching my kids to read.

[Lynnette]

So I am taking a bath with the 3 year old daughter who, when asked what she is looking at replies "your woo-hoo...it has a tiiinnny little hole in it". I guess she doesn't need glasses but it is quite possible I need more modesty! Modesty and a journal of all the funny shit the kid says.

[landismom]

Heh. See, this is the beauty of the pseudonym--my kids will be able to read their own embarrassing stories, but their future employers (probably) won't.

Today, the Potato walked out of a stall in the women's room in a turnpike rest stop and announced, "my penis hurts!"

Cue a roomful of laughing women. And his sister.

[moby]

Haha! Giant penis? Now, wouldn't *that* be a source of parental pride? ;)

[Holmes]

Some guys never grow out of shouting about their large penis. Some guys grow up to write entire albums about it.

[Mamacita Caliente]

You totally have to blog that, therapy be damned! I knew I should have blogged the "do you wanna see my penis?" story, alas that ship has sailed.

[creative-type dad]

I really haven't put much thought into that. I guess when the therapy gets too expensive would be my short answer

[Quirkee James]

You just blogged it! Well done. Every parent should have some readily available dirt on their kids in a time of need.