Writing about your children

Bumfketeer · **Posted:** Wed Jan 15, 2003 10:14 pm

I'm carrying this vitally important topic over from the prior thread.Thank you, Blanp, for mentioning a true scourge: columns about the author's children. My paper has an especially noxious one. It's written by a features writer on maternity leave who, like all similar columns, holds forth as if hers were the first child ever born.I hate this stuff. As I said before, I have lots of children, now grown. What they did as kids was interesting to me, but not to readers.Of course, this is in part born of bitterness. I had kids when I was very, very young, since I didn't bother wasting time going to college. When my kids were young, the "senior" editors were not interested in what my kids did. A few years later, they had kids...and suddenly, what kids did was the most fascinating topic a newspaper could cover.

Guest · **Posted:** Wed Jan 15, 2003 10:58 pm

For the most egregious example possible of this, look no further than the collage of emotional excrement pressed into Bob Greene's "Good Morning, Merry Sunshine."

Bumfketeer · **Posted:** Thu Jan 16, 2003 11:15 am

Jim, I disagree. There is no "most egregious" when it comes to this. Each column is equally egregious on its face.Let's go back to "the reader" and categorize those who pay for the "product."Readers can be classed as:1. People who have no children and thus cannot in any measure relate to any column telling about what having children is like. If you don't have kids, you don't know what it is like. Period. And, probably, if you don't have kids, you don't care.2. People who have children and by dint of that fact are far too busy rearing their children to give a shit about yours. If you are busy rearing your own kids, you don't care.3. People whose children are reared and gone. (My classification, if you care.) At this point, having been through it, they have no interest in reading about it. If your kids are grown, you don't care.Let's see; that makes three groups of "the reader" who don't care to read about someone else's kids. If you can think of another niche, perhaps that's the target readership. Perhaps the writer and the writer's kids. That's about it.

Guest · **Posted:** Thu Jan 16, 2003 3:41 pm

I was speaking purely subjectively. And not necessarily as a proud, card-carrying member of Category No. 1.

dmfugitive · **Posted:** Thu Jan 16, 2003 5:49 pm

Bumf, that's beautiful.

Bumfketeer · **Posted:** Thu Jan 16, 2003 7:01 pm

Well, apologies if it was overly sentimental.

pzicari · **Posted:** Fri Jan 17, 2003 12:45 am

Actually, there's more to it than that. I have my doubts about not only kid columns (which as a relatively new parent I read, nevertheless), but about pet/plumbing/kitchen-remodeling/ghoul-in-the-cellar/trip-from-hell-to-sea-world columns, too. The tricky part is whether the piece's justification is kid or the kid is just part of a good tale.

Guest · **Posted:** Fri Jan 17, 2003 1:23 am

This kicks open the door to an even larger issue ... when is it appropriate for reporters to write about themselves (in news stories OR in columns)? When is first-person journalism useful and/or appropriate? I've done it sparingly over the years ... once as a sidebar to a housing crunch in the town in which I was living in 10 years ago, when I myself was struggling to find a decent place ... once about having to testify in a prominent murder trial, and my thoughts about having been the one to find the murdered person ... a column about my subjective observations about the differences between Washington state and California after I'd moved to the latter state a few years ago. None were necessary; each were asked for following conversations with editors.What do you think?

Bumfketeer · **Posted:** Fri Jan 17, 2003 10:53 am

Never.

Rio · **Posted:** Fri Jan 17, 2003 1:05 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by Bumfketeer:
Never.<hr></blockquote>Disagree.Our paper runs such a column almost every day. It's allegedly one of the most widely read features.What's wrong with reporters and editors sharing first-person accounts in a column? Geez, what a bunch of sourpusses!

Bumfketeer · **Posted:** Fri Jan 17, 2003 2:06 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by Gary Kirchherr:
Geez, what a bunch of sourpusses!<hr></blockquote>
OK, Gary. Apologies. I'm out of coffee filters and the grounds keep dissolving the toilet paper I'm using as a substitute. Sorry, but I refer you back to the name of the site.

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Fri Jan 17, 2003 2:44 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by Gary Kirchherr:
What's wrong with reporters and editors sharing first-person accounts in a column? <hr></blockquote>With rare exceptions, the personal experiences of reporters and editors are neither newsworthy nor interesting.

Emily Salmon · **Joined:** Sat Nov 16, 2002 1:01 am **Posts:** 86

I'm not clear--does this include humor columns? Or are you saying there's no such thing?[ January 17, 2003: Message edited by: Emily Salmon ]

SusanV · **Posted:** Fri Jan 17, 2003 9:02 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by Bumfketeer:

OK, Gary. Apologies. I'm out of coffee filters and the grounds keep dissolving the toilet paper I'm using as a substitute. Sorry, but I refer you back to the name of the site.<hr></blockquote>Try a paper towel instead. :D

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Fri Jan 17, 2003 9:08 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by Emily Salmon:
I'm not clear--does this include humor columns? Or are you saying there's no such thing?<hr></blockquote>With rare exceptions, the personal experiences of reporters and editors are neither newsworthy, nor interesting, nor funny.[ January 17, 2003: Message edited by: blanp ]

Rio · **Posted:** Sat Jan 18, 2003 12:08 am

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by blanp:
With rare exceptions, the personal experiences of reporters and editors are neither newsworthy, nor interesting, nor funny.<hr></blockquote>Speak for yourself. :D

Bumfketeer · **Posted:** Sat Jan 18, 2003 12:16 am

Christ, I am howling. This thread has become funnier than any stupid first-person column, thus proving there is no need for them.

dmfugitive · **Posted:** Sat Jan 18, 2003 4:46 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by Emily Salmon:
[QB]I'm not clear--does this include humor columns? Or are you saying there's no such thing?QB]<hr></blockquote>Oh, there are such things. And if it's billed as a humor column, you can be sure it isn't funny.

Testy Copy Editors

Writing about your children

Who is online

What They're Saying

Useful Links