Back in the early days of blogging, most bloggers were anonymous. They called themselves (and still do) Iota, Potty Mummy, Crystal Jigsaw, Expat Mum....names like that. Given that I already had a book out, it seemed silly not to capitalize on any extra attention I could garner so my blog was never really anonymous. You could find out my name if you tried. Over the years, some bloggers have come out of the shadows and some have decided to maintain anonymity for a variety of reasons.
Ditto with children. I suppose if you're an anonymous blogger, you can write about your children although probably giving them pseudonyms. Not much point in being anonymous if you tell the world you live in Ashby-de-la-Zouche and have four children named Tyler, Tanya, Taylor and Tina. It'd be a matter of time before the locals figured it out and you'd be up all night deleting any bitchy comments you might have made about them! (Don't titter, it's happened more times than I can recollect to one blogger or another.)
Some bloggers who are "out" also blog about their children very well, like my cuz Trish who blogs about the lovely Rory over at Mum's Gone To... . He's such a nice boy he barely bats an eyelid - and doesn't seem to do anything to embarrass himself into the bargain. Me? Mine all have nicknames, (the ex-Queenager, the now-ex-man-Child and the Little Guy), I never post photos and never refer to anything that could give them away - and I still get grief from them. The ex-Q secretly reads this blog (waves politely) and phones up to take issue with any deviation from the absolute Gospel truth. She, being a writer of sorts (journalism student), should appreciate a little bloggery license, but no - I get the third degree on who said what, how much really happened and what more, if anything, I plan to say on the subject.
I write sporadically about my husband (nicknamed the Ball & Chain) but he hasn't even read my books and wouldn't know how to go about reading this blog, so I'm pretty safe there. Although on second thoughts the ex-Q might try to use it against me - Yeah, go on try it matey!
How about you? What are your parameters and what have been any consequences?