I don't encourage censorship.
When I first started Razing Mayhem two years ago, I wrote each entry as if I were writing to a friend. Those first posts were too deeply personal, rooted in a past I wanted to leave behind, riddled with obscenities, and when I think about them I cringe.
There are many things I am still write openly about, despite being warned against doing so - my ongoing battle with depression and anxiety, for one, and how I'm coping with a diagnosis of Dermatillomania a few months ago. Some of these posts are raw, and most of them are tremendously sad.
My blog is the epitome of "what you see, is what you get", and from potty training woes to our current endeavor to conceive our final child, I'll write about anything we're living through. While I handle my other entries a little more delicately now, I am still able to share the things that make my life what it is without making people uncomfortable {I haven't gotten any complaints, at least} or sacrificing any truth.
I employ this with parenting too, when speaking to our children, we are always truthful and delicate.
For instance, when I was pregnant with our youngest son, Severus, our oldest son, Caesar - prompted by a statement from one of his teachers - came home from preschool asking; "Is there a baby growing in your tummy, Mommy?" he was concerned because he'd learned about the digestive system and was worried as to how the baby would fare in my stomach.
I gently explained that the baby was actually growing in my uterus, which was a much safer environment for him. That was all Caesar cared to know, no need to go into the details of how the baby got there, or how he was coming out, and no further questions were asked.
We're big proponents of honesty as the best policy, because trust and communication are the basis of any good relationship, and we have zero tolerance for fibbing. I feel that as the authority figures, we are expected to uphold this as we expect our children to. We want them to wholly understand - it is such an important rule that even Mommy and Daddy honor it.
We are their biggest influences for now, and if children learn what they live, we want them to live, learn and perpetuate truthfulness the same way it was taught to us.
Many people disagree, however. They feel that being as honest as we are crosses the line between parent and friend, some feel that children are stripped of their childhoods without some blissful ignorance.
What's your stance?
Monique authors the stunningly mediocre Razing Mayhem, the personal blog where she chronicles her life as a wife, mother of four, and photography enthusiast. You can also find her on Google Plus, Twitter, Facebook and about a million other networks.
