How Does Blogging Help Preserve Family Relationships?

Kellan is a Texas mom of four and small business owner. She is also the writer behind the blog On The Upside where she shares daily stories about the raising of four children and surviving the humorous chaos of their everyday lives. She can also be found writing On The Flipside and a blog for mySA.

I don't think you would meet any blogger that did not agree that blogging is definitely a form of journaling. I think this is especially true for personal blogs and "Mommy Blogs". And, while there is quite a bit of controversy that surrounds "Mommy Bloggers" - where the media and critics are quick to analyze and attack a mother for documenting her children's lives and publishing pictures and stories on her blog for the whole world to see, I think it would be hard to find a "Mommy Blogger" that did not agree that blogging has changed the way we connect with our families and preserve the memories of our children.

Before blogging and digital photography, moms were snapping 35mm photos and then filing those photos in albums that she would then store in a cabinet in the family room or den. She might also have spent many hours scrapbooking to document memorable occasions such as birthdays and anniversaries. She would sit around the dinner table and offer up stories of her own childhood for her children to listen to and giggle at and then those stories might quickly be forgotten until such time as the memories were brought up again at a family party or gathering. For most people, preserving of family memories was either something that made it to the page of a photo album in the form of hundreds of untitled photos or was simply random stories recited by family members on special occasions.

Blogging definitely changed the way I document and preserve the memories of my family and the lives of my children. Through the publishing of stories that are detailed and particular (highlight specific events, dates, conversations, etc.) I have managed to document thousands of moments in my children's lives that would have never been written down and remembered if it had not been for blogging those memories daily. And, through the stories (and the photos that are very often attached to these stories), I believe I have offered my children a unique glimpse into their past and our family's history that will one day be a priceless heirloom for them and their own children. Through all of the hundreds of posts that I have published, my children have and will continue to see who they were, who they were to me and who I was, through what they read in my stories.

I think blogging my children's lives is a gift I am giving to my children. The only regret I have is that I have not had the time to blog about every single thing that happens in their lives and also that I did not start sooner. I often feel sad about the memories that might have been saved if only I had started blogging years ago.