Like video killed the radio star, blogging just may well kill the baby book as katie allison granju points out in this post.

I can’t tell you how true this is. I didn’t start blogging until after my son was born. My daughter’s baby book is FULL of all the stuff she did: pictures, milestones, birthdays, holidays, monthly updates during her first year…everything! My son’s baby book? Not so much! But where you’ll find a good bit of documentation about both of them is on my blog (well, a lot of it is on the old blog but I really do plan on turning into a “real” book via Lulu.com…eventually).

And I’ve read numerous other bloggers who have made statements along the lines of, “I don’t keep a regular baby book, my blog is my baby book!”

Katie’s post was inspired by a post from First Impressionist who says:

There are so many things a person experiences growing up and much of it is forgotten. It’s nice to think that current and future generations can do a web search and re-experience an innocuous afternoon outing, a particular Halloween, an afternoon movie, shopping for school clothes etc…and as an added bonus, see themselves through their parent’s perspective whether it be one of annoyance or amusement. I think being able to see the love behind each post will be reassuring as well.

I really believe on the whole, it will help a lot of kids as they are trying to figure themselves out, appreciate many valuable aspects to their personalities that are typically easy to forget or overlook. The blog-journal is a kind of proof of the child’s value somehow that stands on its own regardless of the changing relationship between parent and child.

Katie says at her own place:

I feel compelled to mention that I never blog about 95% of the specifics of my kids’ lives, and that becomes even more the case as they get older…

Personally, I don’t think it’s the specifics that are as compelling and interesting as the memories that are recorded, the off beat conversations, the unposed and hilarious pictures that are posted, and the unabashed proclamations of how much a parent loves, adores and cherishes their children. And for now, I know my personal blogging of what my kids are up to is helping me remember oft forgot portions of their lives. I hope when they’re older, they’ll appreciate having my words and their Dads’ words to look back on, to see in a rather tangible way the joy they bring to our lives.