Discussions Only We Know
Family Friendly
Say what????
So my question for today: Do you guys try to keep your blog "family friendly"? If so, what does that mean to you? What constitutes "family friendly?"
I am not a mother yet, but I do have two nieces. Both of my nieces read. One is fourteen, and the other is eleven. I don't think either read my blog, but they both know about it. Just the idea that either might be reading it (or might one day read it) keeps me on my toes, and I am constantly asking myself if I'd want my teenage or pre-teen daughter exposed to what I post on my blog. Tough question.
I have definitely chosen to keep my blog "family friendly." What this means to me is that there won't be book covers with mostly naked people on them--especially if they're posed in any compromising positions--and there won't be any book titles with cursing. I have enjoyed branching out into the New Adult genre, but often these books push the boundaries of what I'm comfortable with posting on the blog or even reading myself.
I debated for a while when I first started my blog about doing some sort of content rating on my reviews to show what someone might expect within the book like cursing, sexual situations, drug/alcohol use, etc. But I just found myself having a really hard time classifying all of that, so I ended up deciding against it. I know some bloggers have found a way of doing this that works for them, and I say kudos. Instead, I do try to mention in my reviews if the cursing was a bit much for me, or if any scenes were too graphic, and I have decided to include the genre designation on my reviews for quite some time. I put off including the genre designation for a while because there can be controversy over what is classified as which genre, but I specifically want Young Adult, New Adult, or Adult listed so that anyone reading my blog can know what to expect.
Of course, not all books classified in each category will have the same level of content, but that's life, right? Most things don't fit neatly into boxes. There are shades of grey everywhere (and I'm not talking 50 Shades of Grey).
This is just happens to be what I feel comfortable with. I realize that everyone has different comfort levels, and that's fine. But I want my daughter (assuming I ever have one of those) to read my blog one day and for me not to be embarrassed by the content found within it. Granted there are books that don't have steamy covers or titles with cursing that still have content within that is not going to be appropriate for a teenage girl.
What are your thoughts? Do you have any boundaries or limits you set on yourself for your blog content? Or do you just post whatever you want and whatever you read? Do you care about keeping things "family friendly"? I'm really curious. What do you guys think? Let me know!
