To The Lady Who Thinks Mommy Bloggers Overshare, Welcome To 2014

Yet another mother with grown kids is giving the rest of us advice about how not to ruin our children, in A Letter To Mommy Bloggers From A Blogger With Grown Kids. Somehow, although she’s a blogger and a mom, Sharon Greenthal manages to escape the label “Mommy Blogger.” Go figure.

I don’t know why it’s so hard for some people to grasp that we’ve entered something called “the Digital Age.” Sharon, you may be unfamiliar with the term, and think that all parents should still use glue sticks, construction paper, polaroids and sharpies to document their children’s lives, but most people are doing that online now.

Mom and dad bloggers aren’t the only ones documenting their kids lives and images this way. Have you ever heard of Facebook? I know you’ve heard of Instagram – because a quick search led to a public account with pictures of your kids on it and everything!

It may be upsetting for you to see images of children “in the midst of a very ugly cry,” but some of us find it hilarious. Some of us like to see that other parents are having just as a hard of a time as we are; it’s comforting. I guess you’d rather us all pretend that raising kids is a piece of cake – and do it with a smile. Well, too bad. As adults, those of us who share the stories you find too personal have used the power of reason to quantify that it’s better to tell our stories and remain sane than to fill our tantrum-throwing child’s sippy cup with vodka and cry in a corner.

You. Yes Mommy, she’ll be seriously pissed off at you. You, who are supposed to be her safe haven and her protector, will have unwittingly exposed her to the world in ways she may not want the world to see her.

Seriously? My 8-month-old already has a fantastic sense of humor, and if these images do one day bother her, she can just add it to the arsenal of things we all resent our parents for. I assure you – your kids have one, too.

They might look at the years and years of posts you’ve written and resent that their childhoods have been co-opted for Google ad clicks and free Pampers.

“Google ad clicks and free Pampers?” Hilarious. I’m pretty sure my children like to be fed, clothed and sheltered – and I along with many, many other writers provide that for them through telling MY stories. Yes, I’m calling them mine, because I didn’t become a shadow of a human when I decided to have kids. All of these things that are happening around me are happening in MY life as well. If you are truly worried about me telling the stories of my life, I assure you – there is no way you could care more about the future and well being of my children than I do. Or more than any of these women you slay for telling their stories online. It’s absurdly condescending to even pretend that you do. I won’t even mention how sexist it is that you don’t include fathers in your little “dressing down.”

I get that you have opinions, but maybe you should stop judging parents who have different levels of comfort with storytelling on the Internet. Maybe you should understand this isn’t just a silly hobby and a lot of people feed their kids this way. Maybe you should get off your high horse for ten minutes and call your own kids – who you have clearly never done anything to disappoint or offend.

(photo: Getty Images)