Holding back because of the blog
This past week was a whirlwind of activity for the kids. We drove to Kentucky, Florida and North Carolina to spend time with family and in the middle of it all, we spent four days on the Disney property and snuck in a visit to Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure. It was an intense amount of time together as a family and for Jordan, a lot of it was spent intensely attached to me. I'm not exactly sure why, but she was clingy. Not a little, but a lot. I almost felt like she was transported back to being a clingy two or three year old.It felt like Jordan was giving me all of her... every ounce of her love and input. So it took me off guard as we walked down the street of Disney World.Jordan: "I have a secret."Me: "Oh really. It's okay to tell me secrets. I'll keep them to myself."Jordan: "Except on the blog."Me: "What?"My super bright, kinda-clingy daughter doesn't trust me. And that crushes me... And makes me want to rethink how I write and share here on Born Just Right.Two or so years ago, my husband and I discussed ways we could get Jordan involved in Born Just Right so it wouldn't make her angry about it. We wanted her to feel like she had a personal stake in the site. We wanted her to believe in this community as much as we do. We honestly feel we are in a special position to offer insight and support to special needs families. I don't want to quit what we're doing.But I need her to have an even bigger stake in this site. I need her veto power. I need her to read each post before I hit "Publish." I want her to trust me and this site. I want her to trust our community. It's interesting that I'm not the only person feeling the challenge of blogging about our family while giving our children room to be who they want to be offline. I know I backed off on blogging about Cameron dramatically in the last couple of years.So here's what I'm thinking. After this post, I plan to read posts to her before I hit publish. In the past, I've given her a summary but I haven't gone beyond that. I'm going to bring her deeper into the editorial process. If you have any other ideas, I'd love to hear them. But for now, I want my daughter to trust me and trust the Born Just Right community. There aren't any how-to books on what to do when you children are growing up with a blog. I really don't want to mess up on this.