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Dear mommy blogger stfu signed your kids!

Posted by thom_c 
Dear mommy blogger stfu signed your kids!
September 24, 2010
http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/09/24/tf.should.moms.blog.kids/index.html?hpt=C2


In a recent online post called "The Older Child," blogger Heather Armstrong, better known as Dooce of the popular parent-blog Dooce.com, seemed to suggest that her eldest daughter no longer wants her mother to blog about her, at least not without her permission. Which begs the question: Should so-called "mommy bloggers" be able to blog about their kids without their kids' permission?

Arguably, Heather Armstrong is the queen of the mommy bloggers phenomenon. Nicknamed "Dooce" due to an ages-old spelling error, the now-mother-of-two lives in Salt Lake City, where she blogs about motherhood, running a home, and life as a working mom.

Her first daughter, Leta, was born in 2004. After her daughter's birth, Armstrong experienced severe postpartum depression and ultimately checked herself into a mental hospital. Eventually, through counseling and antidepressants, she was able to overcome the episode. In 2009, she gave birth to a second daughter, Marlo.



Armstrong isn't alone in her struggles with postpartum depression. What set her apart is that she blogged about it. She also blogged about some of the most intimate and uncomfortable experiences she had as a mother.

Her posts are rife with stories of her conflicted feelings about her children, as well as her husband, and she isn't afraid to go all out when it comes to the more graphic tales of being a working stay-at-home-mom, from dirty diapers to days when she thinks she's going crazy.

Primarily, it's Armstrong's candor that has made her a success in the blogosphere. Readers, fellow mothers among them, can't get enough of her say-anything confessions about life behind the (metaphorical) white picket fence.

Since, she's parlayed her brand into a major business. In 2008, her site was generating some four million page views a month, and while neither Armstrong nor her husband, who quit his job to help run Dooce.com, will say what the site generates in ad revenue, in 2008 the Wall Street Journal estimated her potential monthly revenue at $40,000 a month. Nowadays, she's published two books and has a new partnership with HGTV.



But at what cost? In another recent entry on her site, Armstrong is cagey but seems to be suggesting that Leta, whose life and whose mother's sometimes deeply conflicted feelings towards her have been chronicled in graphic detail and in photographs posted to the web for all to read and see, no longer wishes to be photographed by her mother, and, possibly, if one reads between the lines correctly, no longer wishes to be written about on her mother's site without her permission.

Apparently, readers had been wondering where Leta had been lately, as Armstrong hasn't been writing about her much. "One, she expressed displeasure at having her picture taken several months ago, and now she actually runs out of the room when I break out a camera," she reveals.

"Two, I didn't expect our relationship to become so complicated so early in her life." She continues, "In fact, I thought that some of what is going on in our house wasn't going to happen for another ten years." She doesn't say exactly what that is, but when she goes on to write, "For the last several months if I have mentioned Leta here I have most likely asked her if I could do so, even if it has been something totally innocuous," it makes one wonder if what Leta is having a hard time with is the fact that her mother made her life public -- without her permission.



Of course, anyone who's been following the site knows that this day, if that's what it is, was inevitable. And, surely, Leta is not alone. A whole mini-generation of kids provided fodder for their parents' parenting blogs, and, in the case of the Armstrongs, those intimate confessions enabled their parents to have a very generous income. Recently, the family moved into a big new home. Their office remodel will be sponsored by Verizon.

In her post, Armstrong seems to shrug and dismiss the issue with her usual no-matter attitude. After all, she's got a new baby, Marlo, about whom, she reassures her eager readers, she'll be writing about aplenty for years to come. That is, until when? Maybe until Marlo is old enough to read.
Re: Dear mommy blogger stfu signed your kids!
September 24, 2010
Sounds like another Julie Myerson in the making.

I hope the kid gets an injunction against moomy, a share of the proceeds, and an emancipation. People have no right to spread personal details about others without their permission, especially if said person is a minor who can't easily choose to get out of the situation. It's a gross violation of privacy. She didn't even try to keep it anonymous or obscure some details. It's all about her, her, her, and not at all about her child's needs.
Re: Dear mommy blogger stfu signed your kids!
September 24, 2010
How many crazy-mommy-in-mental-hospital blogs do we need?

Anyway, Dooce is a cunt to me, only because way before she was famous, I posted a contrary opinion to one of her half-assed posts, and she jumped down my throat while her syncophants curb-stomped me.
Re: Dear mommy blogger stfu signed your kids!
September 24, 2010
Hey, do what the kid asks. It's only fair. You are obviously making enough cash you can write about something else from time to time. What a bitch.
Re: Dear mommy blogger stfu signed your kids!
September 24, 2010
So she had a second child so she could post again about a kid.

______________

- The human gene pool could use a little chlorine
Re: Dear mommy blogger stfu signed your kids!
September 24, 2010
I don't blame the girl in the least for not wanting her personal life spewed all over the world wide web and especially since most of the commmentary isn't favorable. However, I am trying to understand how a 6 year old could even know or comprehend what's going on, much less demand her moo to get her "permission". I am thinking that this might be a publicity stunt. If the girl was 12 or 13, maybe, but 6 or 7, I dunno.confused smiley

------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- -------
If YOU are the "exception" to what I am saying, then why does my commentary bother you so much?
I don't hate your kids, I HATE YOU!
Re: Dear mommy blogger stfu signed your kids!
September 24, 2010
Quote
kidlesskim
I don't blame the girl in the least for not wanting her personal life spewed all over the world wide web and especially since most of the commmentary isn't favorable. However, I am trying to understand how a 6 year old could even know or comprehend what's going on, much less demand her moo to get her "permission". I am thinking that this might be a publicity stunt. If the girl was 12 or 13, maybe, but 6 or 7, I dunno.confused smiley

Most children wouldn't, it's true, but some children would. When I was that age I was engaged in a disagreement with my teacher over her teaching methods. So it is possible for a child to form opinions at that age, and be willing to stand up for them despite threats of punishment.

But, then again, maybe mommy is just making more out of it than is there, in order to make her daughter look hyper intelligent. (I, of course, was a brilliant child--shame I didn't turn out to be a brilliant adult!)
Re: Dear mommy blogger stfu signed your kids!
September 24, 2010
Quote
M4P
So she had a second child so she could post again about a kid.

Really, this is just the further evolution of the "chyld actor/stage mommy" syndrome. Poor little things.
Re: Dear mommy blogger stfu signed your kids!
September 26, 2010
Quote
yurble
Sounds like another Julie Myerson in the making.

I hope the kid gets an injunction against moomy, a share of the proceeds, and an emancipation. People have no right to spread personal details about others without their permission, especially if said person is a minor who can't easily choose to get out of the situation. It's a gross violation of privacy. She didn't even try to keep it anonymous or obscure some details. It's all about her, her, her, and not at all about her child's needs.

That's what I thought as well. I think there has to be a huge element of narcissism for a parent to violate a child's privacy that way.
Re: Dear mommy blogger stfu signed your kids!
September 26, 2010
Quote

Really, this is just the further evolution of the "chyld actor/stage mommy" syndrome. Poor little things.

Ha! I was thinking this, too. It won't be long until poor Leta turns to drugs and alcohol. tongue sticking out smiley And MARLO? Oh give me a fucking BREAK. Ughghghgh... I hate that Dooce bitch, too. I really enjoyed reading her blog, pre-kids though. I read the archives and enjoyed them, especially when she talked about her neurotic dog. Then she shat out the kid and it all went to hell, quite literally. And I really can't stand attention whore type blogs that are too popular and have a whole lotta mindless followers. The mommy blog shit really got out of hand and it makes me ill.

I wonder what happened to the dogs... I hope they're still being treated okay. I don't want to grace her stupid blog with my presence though. She disgusts me.
Re: Dear mommy blogger stfu signed your kids!
September 26, 2010
Quote
Seacreature
Ha! I was thinking this, too. It won't be long until poor Leta turns to drugs and alcohol. tongue sticking out smiley

waving hellolarious That's right, because "some of what is going on in our house wasn't going to happen for another ten years" Better sock away some of that $40,000/month for the inevitable teen rehab/breakdown. Like mother, like daughter, right?
Re: Dear mommy blogger stfu signed your kids!
September 27, 2010
Quote
thom_c
http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/09/24/tf.should.moms.blog.kids/index.html?hpt=C2


In a recent online post called "The Older Child," blogger Heather Armstrong, better known as Dooce of the popular parent-blog Dooce.com, seemed to suggest that her eldest daughter no longer wants her mother to blog about her, at least not without her permission. Which begs the question: Should so-called "mommy bloggers" be able to blog about their kids without their kids' permission?

Arguably, Heather Armstrong is the queen of the mommy bloggers phenomenon. Nicknamed "Dooce" due to an ages-old spelling error, the now-mother-of-two lives in Salt Lake City, where she blogs about motherhood, running a home, and life as a working mom.

Her first daughter, Leta, was born in 2004. After her daughter's birth, Armstrong experienced severe postpartum depression and ultimately checked herself into a mental hospital. Eventually, through counseling and antidepressants, she was able to overcome the episode. In 2009, she gave birth to a second daughter, Marlo.



Armstrong isn't alone in her struggles with postpartum depression. What set her apart is that she blogged about it. She also blogged about some of the most intimate and uncomfortable experiences she had as a mother.

Her posts are rife with stories of her conflicted feelings about her children, as well as her husband, and she isn't afraid to go all out when it comes to the more graphic tales of being a working stay-at-home-mom, from dirty diapers to days when she thinks she's going crazy.

Primarily, it's Armstrong's candor that has made her a success in the blogosphere. Readers, fellow mothers among them, can't get enough of her say-anything confessions about life behind the (metaphorical) white picket fence.

Since, she's parlayed her brand into a major business. In 2008, her site was generating some four million page views a month, and while neither Armstrong nor her husband, who quit his job to help run Dooce.com, will say what the site generates in ad revenue, in 2008 the Wall Street Journal estimated her potential monthly revenue at $40,000 a month. Nowadays, she's published two books and has a new partnership with HGTV.



But at what cost? In another recent entry on her site, Armstrong is cagey but seems to be suggesting that Leta, whose life and whose mother's sometimes deeply conflicted feelings towards her have been chronicled in graphic detail and in photographs posted to the web for all to read and see, no longer wishes to be photographed by her mother, and, possibly, if one reads between the lines correctly, no longer wishes to be written about on her mother's site without her permission.

Apparently, readers had been wondering where Leta had been lately, as Armstrong hasn't been writing about her much. "One, she expressed displeasure at having her picture taken several months ago, and now she actually runs out of the room when I break out a camera," she reveals.

"Two, I didn't expect our relationship to become so complicated so early in her life." She continues, "In fact, I thought that some of what is going on in our house wasn't going to happen for another ten years." She doesn't say exactly what that is, but when she goes on to write, "For the last several months if I have mentioned Leta here I have most likely asked her if I could do so, even if it has been something totally innocuous," it makes one wonder if what Leta is having a hard time with is the fact that her mother made her life public -- without her permission.



Of course, anyone who's been following the site knows that this day, if that's what it is, was inevitable. And, surely, Leta is not alone. A whole mini-generation of kids provided fodder for their parents' parenting blogs, and, in the case of the Armstrongs, those intimate confessions enabled their parents to have a very generous income. Recently, the family moved into a big new home. Their office remodel will be sponsored by Verizon.

In her post, Armstrong seems to shrug and dismiss the issue with her usual no-matter attitude. After all, she's got a new baby, Marlo, about whom, she reassures her eager readers, she'll be writing about aplenty for years to come. That is, until when? Maybe until Marlo is old enough to read.

no shit her kid wants to not be made a public spectacle of. how would these dipshit parents like it if their kids wrote about every embarrassing moment on a blog for 7 billion people to see? this kid ain't stupid-she knows moo is exploiting her. mom and dad make a shitload of cash and buy a house-how much is being loaded into that kid's college fund? she wants privacy and she wants to not be exploited.

furthermore, i stand by my assertion that putting photos of your young child up and writing about every aspect of their lives is a form of child abuse-you are opening them up to dangerous perverts, especially when you take photos that identifies where you live.
Re: Dear mommy blogger stfu signed your kids!
September 27, 2010
I've tried reading her blog a few times, and I can't for the life of me understand how she got so popular. She has this, "I'm just soooo cool and hip" attitude that drives me crazy. I loved it when Violent Acres poked fun at her blog, and she got all butt-hurt!
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