Wow.

I received an anonymous comment on my blog last night which was ... hurtful. And full of misunderstanding.

My last post pictured my daughter sitting on a motorized scooter with a neighbor - her sitting in front of my friend on a scooter. No she did not have a helmet on, and I was criticized, heavily. In words you don't chuck out unless you mean business. Perhaps most of you would have agreed with the commenter.

My husband said not to respond. Clearly, he said, this person does not know you. Don't fuel the fire he says, no good can come of it.

But as it involves criticism that I disregarded my own child's safety, I decided to respond. (Keep in mind, anyone who IS a parent knows they need no further criticism from anyone besides themselves).

Call me lots of things and you would be right - mediocre. average. ordinary. imperfect. But comments that I exposed my child to an irresponsible danger. That I will defend.

For note: The motorized scooter in question is a childs motorized scooter. I don't know what speeds it goes, but childrens' motorized vehicles generally don't go over 5 to 10 miles an hour. I know it is a scooter intended for the 8-10 year old age group and is not street legal. My neighbor who had Greta on the scooter lives 4 houses away, and from the completely creeping speeds I saw (my neighbor had her foot on the ground balancing the whole way) I would guess it was going LESS than 2 miles an hour. (maybe 2? Jodi, you drove her, would you think it was over 2?) I wouldn't let my child go with someone irresponsible, and going at any speed above a crawl was out of the question. Speed was never even discussed because my friend would NEVER endanger a child and neither would I. I watched the whole thing, no way would anyone have ever thought the speed was a factor in anything, because frankly, my neighbor was essentially scooting along on her feet. No way could my G have gotten hurt.

Clearly the commenter doesn't know me. Ask anyone who knows me. I was raised by the most paranoid woman in the whole world. Anyone who knows me and hears I was criticized for being unsafe will be baffled.

Threats were made about "not reading this blog" anymore. Well, it is a documentation for me, not for you. If you find something fun or insightful, great, but it is a way for me to keep track of creative things I do with my children so that I will remember it, or moments I want to remember. I am not on a publicity campaign for my life. Thankfully, my priorities are straight - with concern for readership of this blog coming in dead last. This blog doesn't even come close to representing my real life in any way. Art lessons with my kids? Sewing? The occasional tidbit about something funny my kids did? My blog represents less than 1% of my life. My blog was private for a really long time - I was hesitant to share my life and it is precisely this kind of experience that makes me hesitant. Being judged by people who see one teeny tiny snippet of your life and decide you are the worst person on earth. And worse, doing so on the assumption that they have all the facts.

And, if there is anything I find more cowardly than leaving an anonymous comment, I will let you know. Please, this blog is not my life and is not important enough to me to keep going if I am to be attacked anonymously. If you have convictions, own them, be yourself, and be proud to be yourself.