A Blog For The Kiddo

I’m hoping I did the right thing. I setup a blog for my little sister in law on a subpage of one of my domains.

Why did I do it? There are a few reasons. She finished up her school year a few days ago. All I’ve heard in the last few days is “I’m bored. I don’t have anything to do.” I thought having a blog would give her something to do.

When she is in school or hanging out with her friends, all I hear is “So and so did this. So and so did that!” I’m tired of constantly being her outlet for the teeny bopper 13 year old drama. Now she’s got a place to rant about her life, school, etc. I did setup some ground rules for that, though. She’s not allowed to use names, and she’s not allowed to get specific.

I also know starting next summer she will have summer reading and homework projects to do between school years. I thought the blog would not only help her improve her writing skills, but it will get her used to doing school work in the summer. Of course the major difference is that the blog will be fun. I promised I would make a list of topics for her. Each day I’m going to give her a word or topic, and she gets to put her thinking cap on, user her imagination, and come up with something to write about. I think these exercises will help her greatly.

Right now she’s on a “blog probation”. The blog is only available to family and friends who register as a reader. It will stay like this until I feel her out and make the decision that it’s safe for her to open it to the masses.

I know she’s 13, and she’s been using the internet for a good many years, but I just want to make sure she knows what’s appropriate to post and what’s not. I feel rules are very important in this situation, and if she doesn’t abide by them, she’ll lose the blog.

She’s extremely excited about this, and she’s already written at half a dozen or more posts since yesterday.

So, what are your thoughts on giving a child a blog? How old do you think a child should be before they’re allowed to publicly publish their blog? I’d love to hear any thoughts you have about these questions or any other comments you may have.

Time Tuesday, June 10th, 2008, 2:42 am   |   CategoryBetter Blogging, Miscellaneous  |  RssRSS feed Comments and pings are currently closed.

One Comment to “A Blog For The Kiddo”

    
  1. Sebastyne
    June 11, 2008 at 1:10 am

    Hi, I’m a new reader, but had to comment:

    When I was 13, I lost all my friends because of a stupid argument, and I would have killed for something like a blog. Of course, back in the early 90′s all I could do is dream, and I was writing diaries instead. A whole heaps of them, but always imagining I was writing them to SOMEONE. I think a blog would have made a huge difference in my life, something to give me a possibility of finding some understanding ears (or eyes) to rant to.

    It is also good that you have given her the rules. Safety is important, as well as relationships, as if the wrong person reads your rant… Woopsie!

    Blogging can be a very good thing for her, giving her self-confidence in finding that she’s not alone in her thoughts, and social skills when she learns what not to write and how to say a controversial thing in a thoughtful way.

    So I’m all for it, but keep an eye out, as I’m sure you will. :)