Christopher Robin Milne, as is well known, was distressed by the fame of his fictionalized self. Madeleine L’Engle’s youngest son was not well served by her use of him in her fiction either. If I apply the Golden Rule I must admit that I would very much dislike to see my own childhood in a parent’s prose. But perhaps the young people of today feel differently. After all, they don’t seem to have the same feelings about privacy that those of us who grew up before the internet have.
People who don’t know very much about children might imagine that you can simply ask. You can with some children, if you know them well, if you are prepared to hear what they answer, if they care more about their own wants than about pleasing you. That’s a lot of if’s.
I don’t think that everyone who writes about their children, online or off, is exposing them inappropriately. I try to assume, even when the evidence points strongly the other way, that people are making the best decisions about the little people in their lives, whom after all they know much better than I do.
I think also making art or just a blog post out of life must not interfere with other people’s relationships the way I fear it does with mine. I don’t even much like taking pictures. Life is fleeting and trying to capture the perfect moments is as easy as capturing a soap bubble.
What do you think?