As you may have noticed, I do not share my daughter's name on this blog. And I have never posted her photo here. It makes for some awkwardly phrased sentences, but it's important to me to maintain a sense of anonymity.
I made this decision when I started blogging. "Why?" my daughter often asks.
"It's for your own good," sounds like such a terribly 'mom' thing to say, but I believe it to be true.
In this age of Google and instant information, I know that once I attach her name to diabetes via this blog, I can never take it back. I'd rather not have my blog come up as the first item when her name is searched. Today she may not care, but some day somebody's going to google her name when she applies for a job or a learning opportunity. Or when somebody sets her up on a blind date. I'd rather newspaper articles about academic or extracurricular events pop up instead of my blog posts. If diabetes is going to come up in that search, I'd rather it be her name as part of an advocacy or a fundraising effort she's been involved in.
I know lots of bloggers share their kids' names, and I can see the other side of the coin. It makes the stories feel more concrete. It allows the child to take on a bigger advocacy role within and outside of the blog. I think that's absolutely great, and consider it another in the long list of ways different things work for different people when it comes to living with diabetes.
For me, maintaining her anonymity and allowing her to choose when and how to disclose her diabetes is what works. I do sort-of wish I'd come up with a pseudonym though. I've spent way too much time trying to rework those awkward sentences.
This is today's contribution to Diabetes Blog Week. To read more about things people with diabetes are keeping to themselves, click HERE.
