While I’m proud to be a mommy blogger, I recently found myself in a position where I actually thought, “Crap, I think I may have to stop writing about motherhood.” This was thanks to Google Search. Or rather thanks to my daughter, who recently learned what Google Search is and how to use it.
It started when, inspired by her future stepsisters, who told her dolls cannot talk, she Google searched “Are stuffed animals real?”, and one of the things that came up was a post I had written about how my daughter freaked out when she took Ellie (her stuffed animal) into a pool and poor Ellie drowned. (Of course I gave Ellie mouth-to-mouth and she was just fine.)
She read the piece. Then: Tears. Lots and lots of tears. “Why did you write that?” my daughter asked, crying, as the truth sunk in. My heart broke.
But she was hooked. Another night, I found she had Google Searched me, via “Google Image,” to show some new friends. What she pulled up were photos of me lying sexily in lingerie that went along with a story I did about boudoir photography. The good news is I look damn good. The bad news is I didn’t really want strangers (especially little children) looking at me in lingerie.
We were on vacation. At home, I don’t allow my daughter to be on a computer. She doesn’t have her own, and she knows that she is not to touch mine, under any circumstances. But this year at school, sometimes her homework is to Google search people who are coming into her class to speak. I’m at her side when she does this, but along with iPads, and computers at other people’s homes, I can’t really control her use.
No matter how open and close I am with my daughter, I just know I’ll have a lot of explaining to do one day thanks to all my writing about her. I’m trying to look at the positives, and there is only one thing I can come up with. I’ve never had a sex tape leaked. And I never plan to film a sex tape. And, I suppose, I’m glad she can … read?
