January 3, 2005 - Monday
During the time I've been keeping this journal I've been very careful not to include information that's too specific about who the boys are and where we live. After all, the website is theoretical available to any nut in the entire world and I started it during the Internet boom of the late 1990s when web content seemed invaluable. I didn't start it to make any money, but in those days you just didn't know what would happen. Those frantic web days are gone and I realize that being so careful is a rather irrational fear given that kids' pictures, names, and even addresses are in the local newpaper all the time, a matter that I talked about with Harry's old preschool when I worked on their website. They were quite concerned about even nameless pictures going on the web. Admittedly, until recernly getting too specific has really been a non-issue for me because the boys' sphere of life has been so small. But that is changing. Indeed, over the last few months I've begun to find it more awkward to talk about places and things we've done without naming them. After all, this is a journal, among other things, for remembering thoughts and events and not giving details probably will be counterproductive when I'm 90.

Increasingly, too, I'm finding it harder to write publically about real concerns I have as a parent. Up until now most of my concerns have dealt with what I should or shouldn't do myself as a parent, or at most in partnership with the boys' mother. But with Harry nearing Kindergarten and becoming exposed to an increasing number of outside influences, that won't be possible much more. Already I've had concerns about what Harry's learning for other children and how they are testing him with the power plays of childhood. He, too, will visit more places, see baseball games, go to more museums, and it will be foolish not to remember them by name. But, it would also be foolish to talk publically, even in the limited sphere of a sub-domain, about the shortcomings of others.

There's nothing earthshaking about that, but it does illustrate that these little boys are growing up, moving into the world, even beginning to move out on their own, and that as a parent I've got a whole lot more challenges ahead. If only they might all be as easy to solve...


Comments, Opinions?