A Note on Naming Names

So, since all of my six readers are also family members, it hasn't been a big deal to try to obscure the names of my family in this blog. I initially felt that I didn't really want too much personal information about my kids in particular on the internet. Since I put so much personal information in this blog, and we have our business online with lots of other personal information, I thought if I could at least keep their identifying information confidential, it would keep them safe.

But maybe that's a stupid thought. Because every one of my six readers (and I might be slightly exaggerating that number) has questioned the wisdom behind calling them "Boy #1" etc, it seems as though maybe I am blowing the danger out of proportion. After all, if we were to, say, have a disgruntled customer who decides to come after my family, and chooses to do so using the information gleaned from this blog, he'd know a) where we live, b) I have three sons and a daughter on the way, c) none of the children I currently have would be well-behaved enough to want to kidnap.

I mean, honestly, am I painting a rosy picture of my children here? I don't think so. Maybe I should consider protecting their identity not from predators, but from their own future best interests. Like the college kids who post embarrassing pictures on MySpace and then wonder why they can't get a job. Maybe the fact that Brad, who is almost 10, would like nothing better than to sit with his almost 3-year-old brother and watch Thomas the Tank Engine. Whoops, too embarrassing!

So the point is, I'm going to stop censoring myself, and in all likelihood, no one will ever care enough for it to make a difference. Is it a sign of narcissism that I actually thought that someone might dig through all of our personal online information and use it for evil? Well, whatever, I was trying to be circumspect and maybe a little defensive in a world of rampant identity theft, but I'm going to take a chance here. After all, if you google my name, nothing comes up that is actually me, so maybe I can think of this as helping my children avoid the same fate! No one wants true anonymity, right?