I am blessed with a pretty cool family. My husband is an artist (www.jgnkelly.com), and we have two sons. The eldest has just asked for a computer for his 10th birthday – I am horrified. I have always wanted to keep them away from computers and games and ….. but now I am having to rethink things.
The whole parenting thing is officially difficult, and some of us seem to insist of making it even harder than necessary. I have decided that if Joe is to get a computer then he will need a project. This project will have to be on-going and will need to be continued, no just something used to convince me that he is responsible enough to have a computer and get forgotten! The solution – a blog ….
There are always concerns about children using the internet, what they can see, and also what information they put out there. I had thought about putting him onto a blog such as blogspot, but I am not sure what the security is like, so I am opting to allow him to add his work to the back of this site. At this point you may be wondering exactly why it needs to be online and not just on a computer? The reason is simple. We are English and live in France, we do not have a single family member who lives in the same country as us. Facebook is a great way for me to share parts of our lifestyle with friends and family around the world, but there is no way that a 10 year old should have a facebook account (apart from the fact that it is against the t&c) it is also too aggressive and opens far too many doors for my liking. The second reason for posting a blog online rather than creating an electronic diary is that we have moved within France and the boys have left friends behind who they keep in touch with (primarily via skype). Since we are not firmly tied to any one place I imagine that we will move again, and this will be a way for Joes friends to see where he is and what he is up to.
Overall, I think that if we manage this project properly then there is a good chance that this will be something which will build a basis for Joe to keep in touch and let his friends and family around the world, and for them to know what he is up to. This logic, however sound it may seem, still leaves me feeling rather nervous …. but hopefully with careful monitoring of his posts my nerves will gradually reduce.
The final issue with the blog idea was the language. Joe is not good are writing in French, he is very lazy with his verbs, so we have decided that it should be a French blog – this will help his school work, help him think through his French grammar rather than write it phonetically! So here goes …..