The blogger's weapon of choice

'This blog isn't secret, but it doesn't need to be.  Yes, I expose a lot about me and my life here but I'm OK with that.  Typing it here takes it out of my brain where there is limited capacity.  I can store thoughts on the interweb thus expanding my brain capacity virtually.

So why do people do secret blogs?  Well there is the infamous Belle de Jour blog where the blogger had a very good reason for hiding her identity.  The Secret Footballer is by his very nature, secret.  And there was also Fleet Street Fox who is now exposed but was once a secret journalist blogging from within the industry.  I'm sure there are many whistle blowing type blogs where secrecy is essential.

I think I've found another where secrecy is optional, and lack of secrecy can be used as a weapon.

Ethan lied to me last week and told me he'd done his maths homework.  Since then he claims he lost his homework over the weekend (but he hadn't done it before he lost it).  He could have asked for another copy today at school and still had time to do the homework this evening before the deadline tomorrow.  Tonight was when he chose to tell me he'd lost the homework and I launched Operation Find Homework (which failed dismally).  We didn't find the homework but we did find lots of disorganisation, lots of mess and lots of junk.

The thing that really annoyed me, other than the complete disgrace of a messy school bag, was the stuff I'd given Ethan for the school Mothers' Day sale.  It has been carried to and from school for about a month without actually making it into school.

I honestly don't know how to improve Ethan's organisation, tidiness and memory.  I've tried a lot of things, but I now have a secret weapon - the blog.  I took embarrassing pictures of Ethan's messy life and created a blog, just for him.

If his attitude towards his life improves measurably then the blog can stay a secret.  If not then it will be published on Facebook and Twitter and his messiness will be exposed to all of his friends' mums and naturally filtered down to his friends.  I'm hoping that the threat of public humiliation might just be the turning point I've been hoping for.