They think I'm invading their privacy and misinterpreting their lives, although I think it's really to do with the fact that my older brother doesn't like us to mention the "f-word" (fuller figured).

Then my dad sent me a blog from a US website, from a writer who had the same allegations levelled against her - not by her family, but her readers, who complained that when her kids got old enough to understand that she had laid their lives bare for millions around the world, they wouldn't be too happy about it.

Telling your closest friend or family about the misadventures of your kids is expected, but as Cybergirl has pointed out, telling thousands of people about some of the things she would rather forget can be a case of child abuse.

And with the rise and rise of the internet, these little missives about her life are no longer confined to the printed page, but can be kept for eons, to be retrieved at a whim.

Not that she ever reads what I write, in a show of defiance that I have actually done it.

GameBoy and PlayStation couldn't yet care less about their exploits being open fodder from which I can try to draw inspiration.

And my husband says he's just glad that I chose to keep my own name when we got married so nobody would know who he is.

But I take heart in the fact I am only one in millions who put out into the universe the goings on in what can only be considered a relatively normal life.

Now that nearly everyone in the world is connected to each other by that great innovation of the World Wide Web, hearing about the minutiae of people's lives is very easy.

If you do a Google search on family blogs, 33,900,000 different sites are offered - everything from Green and Natural Mom blog to the Adventure Family blog.

A few months ago, a friend suggested I "visit" a parenting website chatline, just to find out what other mums talk about.