Category Archives: LearnerMother

Blogging and kids

Family, LearnerBlogger, LearnerMother, ,

I had a message from someone the other day in response to a post on my blog; it was a private message, because as she said, ‘my elder two don’t need to see their mother’s issues on social media’.  Her kids are older than mine, but it struck a chord with me as it’s something that’s been playing on my mind recently – the whole blogging and kids thing – both in terms of their online safety, and their privacy.

I’m aware that I am effectively creating an online footprint for my kids, before they are old enough to do it themselves. For this reason, I am careful with their identities online. I never use their names on the blog, and I use photos that are recognisable to friends and relatives, without being full face, identifiable shots. Occasionally I’ve posted a Silent Sunday which is more recognisable because I love the photo, and in this case I just mark the post as ‘private’ after a week or so.

Thanks to this article from Mediocre Mum, I do a regular google check of all my kids’  names – have a read of it to find out why you should probably do the same if you maintain any sort of online presence. And I also check the inbound links to photos on the blog, suggested by Leslie on this article at Scottish Mum.  So I’m reasonably happy that I am behaving sensibly in terms of their online safety.

But their privacy – that’s a much more tricky issue for me to wrestle with.  I think I am respectful and sensible in what I share, but will they agree? How will they feel in the future about reading about their milestones online, knowing that some of their friends’ parents may be reading the same thing? And what will it be like for them discovering things they don’t know about me?  I mean I think I have done a reasonable job so far of protecting them from the knowledge that I’m a complete muppet, but a few minutes digging around these pages will soon reveal the truth. Poor buggers, how are they going to cope with THAT?

I’ve made a start on giving the blog a bit of a separate identity, by setting up specific Facebook, Twitter and Google+ profiles that I can use to share blog posts; (really? Would you? Oh how kind! Yes, just click there, and there and there and I’ll love you forevs.) The idea is that I will move away from sharing LearnerMother posts on my ‘me’ accounts. That way when the kids are old enough to set up their own social media they won’t see my witterings in their feed at least. But making the blog less in their faces, does not take away from the fact that it exists.

What do you think? Have you changed the way you blog as your kids get older? If you have older kids, how do they feel about what you write? I’d love to hear from you!

Thank you for reading, as ever!

 

Small Things #2

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Morning morning from Mrs Chirpy Face here! Time for Small Things #2 🙂

Sorry. I know I shouldn’t be chirpy so early in the day. It’s not right, and it’s just plain inconsiderate. But there it is, and here I am!

I’m feeling all chirpy because this week is the start of my new life/work balance. I’ve blogged before about how working 4 days a week was proving counterproductive for our family. So after the Christmas break I went to see my boss to give my notice in.  The intention was to go back on the payroll at our shop for a couple of days a week, sorting out our neglected website and social media presence, and then  trying to cobble together enough freelance bits and pieces to give me another day, thus getting to the Holy Grail of the three day week, which is what seems to work for us at this stage of the kids’ lives.

It’s taken a few weeks to iron everything out but the upshot is that I have now been given a new one day a week contract at work! This is brilliant as I like my employer, and I like the work I do, and also it takes the pressure off with scrabbling for freelance assignments when I’m not qualified to do anything, at all.

There is one fly in the ointment, which is the skint thing. This reorganisation dramatically and scarily reduces my take home pay. And that kind of brings me on to the Small Thing (since technically reorganising my work life is a Big Thing and so I’m not sure qualifies for the MummyNeverSleeps Small Thing Linky).

So my Small Thing is this: Right after gave my notice in, our car died (permanently) and my son brought home a letter about a school residential trip. Both those things come with bills attached and as yet I haven’t figured out how we are going to pay for either of them. Huh? Where’s the Small Thing in that sentence, I hear you cry….well, reader(s), the small thing is the word AFTER.

Because if these bills had arrived before I gave my notice in, I probably would have been ruled by my head and not done it at all. But my heart and my gut – and my kids reactions – tells me that skint or not skint, bills or no bills, I have done the right thing.

So there you have it. Small Thing #2, brought to you by the word ‘after’.

All the Small Things - MummyNeverSleeps
Thanks for reading – why not pop over to Mummy Never Sleeps and have your day cheered up by reading some more Small Things?

Not my New Years Resolutions – progress?

Family, LearnerMother

So I’ve not yet aced all my ‘Not my New Years Resolutions’...I KNOW, we’re 30 days in, surely they should all be ticked off, in the bag, done and dusted by now…but since this is also the year of not beating myself up, I’m just going to roll with it. *rolls, flails a bit, gives up, starts beating self up anyway*

I have made some progress on some of them though…firstly, and most importantly I am in the middle of making some changes to my work life. I’m not quite sure how things will pan out yet, except for the fact that I’ll definitely have  more time at home, and I’ll equally definitely be skint. All the more so since we had the news last week that our car is not worth repairing – I’m a bit gutted by that as in the great Michelle Davis Timeline of Life, it was not scheduled for replacement until after the House Project was completed.

The car being borked has also buggered up another non-resolution – namely my Camp Bestival plans. I’ve been researching various festivals and had set my heart on taking my  elder two to this in August. But unless we become a car free family (this is something I am pondering) then we’re going to have to go without this year. Still, I figure there’ll be competitions galore to win tickets nearer the time so cross everything for me!

Now – the kids! I haven’t been running with my biggest boy yet but the weather has been absolutely minging in these parts, and I figure if I want him to come more than once, I should probably not take him out in the Welsh rain for his first ever run. But I HAVE spent some lovely quality time with my girl, some of which was IMHO completely wasted by watching the AWFUL Moshi Monsters film. But she thought it was the dog’s proverbials, and loved having a Mummy day, and we’ve agreed to do it again soon. As for my youngest, I’ve been practising saying yes a bit more to the stuff he wants to do when we’re at home, rather than always rushing around trying to get on top of the chores, and I have to say not only has it been fun (mostly), but I’ve also noticed a difference in his behaviour the rest of the time – a lesson for me there I think.

What else…Ah yes, writing – ummm, I wrote my most popular post EVER this month, on the not very parenting focussed topic of Independent Retail, though I’m not sure that being in almost double figures counts as progress for non-resolution purposes.  But I’ve also started a work blog to challenge me into writing in different ways – it’s looking quite new and virginal for the moment but I’m sure it’ll be chock full of thrilling insights from the world of Housing in no time….

Next – reading – well, I’ve started The Happiness Project…which I’m hoping will give some interesting insights into another non-res – yes that one about the working on the relationship shizzle, which obvs I’m not going to blog about too much, being totally un-anon and all.  And finally – the Cardiff Pound – well, it’s a big fat nothing to report on that one so far I am afraid….but I might have some exciting news soon so watch this space!

So, all good, right? Just need another couple of days and 2014 is gonna EAT MY SHORTS!*

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*Humour me. It’s for the best.

I’m linking up with #PoCoLo over at Vevivos – where I am also, ahem, drum roll please, featured on Victoria’s Newbie Showcase – thank you Victoria!

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