Child Rearing in the Information Age

How much information is TOO much? I have never been someone with a strong stomache...tell me a gross story and I am sure to gag. Just the thought of vomit makes me...well want to vomit. So what is a parent to do in the information age when even when your children are not in your care you get an in-your-face reality check when your kids are not well? I was asked recently while discussing the information age with a non-parental friend "Isn't it different when it is your kid though?" Ummm...No it is still gross and now you have no choice but to deal with it.

This past week the area I live in was effected by "the stomach bug". The dreaded 24 hour race to the bathroom "flu". I found out my kids were infected through a barrage of technology savvy messaging options. My daughter's caregiver sent detailed emails with frequency, consistency, and physical descriptions of my daughter diaper contents. Ugh...just don't check your email, right?!

WRONG! My cell phone (always on just in case) vibrates in my pocket...Nope not the caregiver. This time my son's teacher was texting me a play-by-play of his dirty deeds. I get it! I get it! I am on my way to save them (the caregiver and teacher NOT the kids) from the dreaded bug.

I was spared the gory experiences as my kids did not get sick in my presence so you think the worst is over. Nope in a last ditch effort to share as much information as possible I get to read about everyone else and their kids' "flu" through various posts on Facebook. In varying levels of detail and duration one-by-one posts popped up with new and exciting updates on other people's...ahem...trials. That brings a whole new meaning to "Friend Requests". 

And to add insult to injury, the woman I am training at work apparently felt that face-to-face communication should not be a thing of the past. In an apparent effort to keep free speech alive, she detailed for me the weekend's worth of sick house cleanup she has recently endured.

When I am able to avoid the mulit-media onslaught of over share from reaching me directly there are always other ways to get to me as was made clear laast week when I received Instant Messages from our front office secretary telling me to call my mother back regarding my son. Turns out it wasn't an emergency...just letting me know how the toilet training was going for the day.

So now that you have gotten the details through yet another information sharing media option, you tell me how much information is too much when child rearing in the information age?

My bologne has a first name...

I have a first name too...I do...but I am not sure anyone actually knows it.  Somewhere along the way I became a person who is identified by their relationship to other people.

Every morning I drop my son off to his teacher and hear "Good morning Dom's mom!" or "Dom's mom is here!" This is even from the parents. Yeah but I have a first name too...I do! Okay, I get it, Dom is the star here...this is his place.

So when I go to the local take out place to pick up dinner...which I put under my own name...why does the cashier say "You're Keith's wife right?" Ummm...yeah but my I have a first name too...I do!

Even when I answer the phone at my office "ACS, this is Tanya" I get "Ummm...Hi is this Giuliana's mom?" Well...yeah but I just said my first name...I have a first name too...I do!

This has got to stop! Then I noticed that I have even done it to myself...Of my last 5 MySpace names...not one has had my real name in it...'MrsD','TheRealMrs.Davis', 'MommaD', 'DomsMomandGiulztoo', DandGzMom'...OMG I have lost all sense of who I am.

I have carefully broached the topic with my motherhood sounding boards and gotten plenty of commiserating. But when I gently mention the topic in mixed company with those individuals who can still remember their first names...and own clothing size...and the last time they went out sans children...I get the awkward half smile and nod. The "oh yeah, but it is so cute and worth it right?" patronizing. When I try to correct those individuals who refuse to use my name I get "Oh yes, can you spell that for me?" As if I have not signed it on the dotted line enough times for you to look it up...

Well maybe I will just change my name to something so astounding that people choose to use it just to have a chance to say it.Something like...oh damn it I don't have time to think of a new name... It took me a total of a year and a half to come up with Dominic and Giuliana...I guess I see the advantage of using a symbol...

Or I could just go by Oscar...