Today's Dear Abby moment - journalist mom

I'm torn here - in a difficulty. You know that I had a weekly column in a newspaper for many years and my family was frequently mentioned and incidents related etc. My children are proud of my work as they revive some forgotten memories. I love re reading them myself. I am not controlling or narcistic in any way. Giving them copies and a copy ech for the grands is a gift of my meagre talent to them. Memories of their parents and the grandfather that none of my grands had the privilege of knowing. To me - t is therefore an act of love;not smothering

All I can say is WOW. Ok I keep a journal of sorts for my daughter,who suffers from epilepsy. I keep the journal as an attempt to find what could be triggering her seizures. And yes I write what she eats,drinks,goes to the restroom,meds,playing stuff like that. I wonder how detailed is this journal? I mean does she write down every little thing? And how does she continue it now? I kinda think it is a bit creepy. As a baby yea that's great,like a baby book,but once he was a teenager? I mean really?!?!!?

she probably means well,but as her son will likely tell her,she needs a new hobby. sounds like one of those power moms where once you have a child nothing else is interesting. everything's about the "baby",even if baby is now 22.

I'd say obsessed. This is the thing about new moms that kill me. One of my Facebook friends is a new mom.. and 20 times a day she has to post a picture of what her baby is currently doing. Here's a picture of him looking "cute", here's a picture of him dressed for the day, here's a picture of him eating his peas, here's a picture of him with peas all over him, here's his 2nd outfit of the day. OMG.. have a second kid so we can stop hearing about this one! Geez!

andrew in SF has alot of nerve. Why doesn't she just tell her son and see if he wants to read it. And it IS priceless Jo Ellen in Bountiful. I think it is very sweet that she wrote in a journal about her beloved son for 223 years. She should tell him and see what his reaction is. If he is alittle put back then put it in a drawer for a later date. If he is curious and wants to read it then give it to him. You never know how our kids are going to react to things now days.

Hmmmmmm. I say it depends on how she wrote the journal. Some people write "generally" - just the highlights, while others write in detail - some maybe in "too much" detail (which would make it overboard). Maybe it wasn't about her son per se . . . but maybe it was her opinion/thoughts about her son - her perspective of things on a daily basis? I used to keep a journal about me, but I haven't in years. I have some friends who have journals going for their babies, but I never bothered with that. For me, 22 years of it would never fly, but apparently this mom had some time on her hands. I'm fine with just photo albums - sheesh!! She can give it to her son, but I wonder if he'd actually read it. Hmmmmm . . . a bit of a strange hobby, that's for sure.

Wow, Some of them were harsh. I guess their mothers put their nose in their business way to often and now they want to criticize anyone one else. I think it is a great thing that she has done. I mean, look how many times a person forgets the things that happened in their life..here is something she can share with with since he is having a child now. As one person stated she should give him the journels..but give them as he himself is going through it with his own child.. like the first years jourmels..so he will maybe know what he is up against..like they say..son like father ...and it will help him and he will get a kick out of reading things he did...it is not something he would have to read all at once heck who has time....but..maybe read it one day at a time????

I admire how disciplined and organized she has been over the years. I would never have kept up with it. Perhaps she has some compulsive tendencies. I liked the suggestion about giving him year one at the end of his son's first year. I also agree with the idea of making a copy, and journaling about her own life. Not really any different from blogging. I think the comments were pretty insightful. Of course they are the ones that Abby chose to share with us.

I liked the one where it says give the first year to son when his son is one he might like it and know what to exspect out of his son like comparing himself and ababy hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I guess his mom love him so much. I know doing things like that and takes a lot of time. Here i am confious about, is he marrying a man?

I dunno how to answer this one. THough I will say I have thought about keeping a journal of all the things the kids have done as they were growing up and give it to them at some point. But I have never done it I hardly wrote in their baby books nonetheless went further into having a journal.

Dawn- I don't find it controlling nor odd. He's probably just gotten done with college and now his life is truly taking off on its own. Who knows, maybe this son stayed her during college so she wrote about the experience. I would think that it would be interesting to see our parents thoughts at the moment of various incidents especially when we have our own children. Just the other day my husband and I were discussing some of the things our children do and remarking how we did some of the very same things. I think it could be interesting to know what our parents though and how they handled things. I have kept many journals over the years but I always had a stop-start relationship with them so there isn't anything from start to finish. Namaste- Anora

I think it is touching. This shows how much parents love their children and ache for them. The son is a man now and should be able to handle this. And is the mom overboard, crazy, controlling, stalkerish, got a screw loose? No! That is so not true! That is parenting in the good sense. You will agree that, for all we know, these are her perceptions. That the young man has started a family of his own, is evidence enough that he has been brought up the right way! She should gift these thoughts to him while she can. Leaving it as a legacy will be too late and a waste. She needs to be rewarded for her care and persistence, either which way.

Controlling to say the least my dear, as at age 22. That sounds a bit too much in my opinion. I can see her writing her own journals which may perhaps include something with him involved. But to be writing his journals, that sounds kinda nutty to me.

I appreciate what this mother is trying to do because I write my daughter a letter on her birthday every year and I plan on giving all of them to her when she turns twenty one or, heaven forbid, something happens to me before then. I hope that doesn’t make me a nut case. Writing one letter a year is a lot simpler than an entire daily journal! I am not sure when she should hand them over. I know it is the something he will probably treasure once she’s gone but right now it may be a lot of reading for him. I guess she should writing and hand over what she’s done, the son has a lifetime to read them I guess…It is a lovely gesture but twenty two years’ worth of journals is a heck of a lot!