Blogging to baby? New technology is replacing the baby book.

As the younger, more tech-savvy population grows and has children, it seems that less and less of the more formal traditions regarding children are holding steady.  Sure, there are some people who still send out birth announcements or family pictures via snail mail, but you are much more likely to see parents sharing pictures through Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram to their family members and friends.

Just like the newspaper is slowly fading into the internet news phenomenon, it seems that the traditional act of keeping a baby book is slipping aside to email and blogging.

Parents these days are setting up email accounts for their children- where they write notes and messages, send pictures and scanned drawings/art their child has created.  Instead of keeping all of this information in a book, many parents are now opting to send it to an email account they've created for their child to later view.

Other parents have begun "Letters to ____" blogs.  If you do a web search for "Letters to" and then add in a name, you find blogs dedicated only to parents documenting and chronicling their children's lives from a young age on the internet.  Sort of their own virtual baby book, to replace the print book our parents may have used.

Initially, the thought can be somewhat nerve-wracking.  What happens if that email server goes under, and you have to transport all that data from one account to another?  What if you don't want your child's information on a public blog?  Can you make a private account?  How do you share information with your family and close friends while not with the general public?  However, you could lose a baby book in a natural disaster, and as for safety, as a parent, you use your best judgement and do what you are comfortable with, just like you would in any other situation.

Thankfully, the new wave of using technology to highlight your baby's first steps does seem to make it a bit easier on a tech-savvy parent these days.  A quick post to a blog and your video is saved in one place, sorted by month and date, and accessible by your child when they reach the proper age.  Instead of hand writing a story out seated in your office in front of your baby book, you can upload a video or picture with the quick tap of a finger on your mobile device.  It can make the process much quicker, which can help you to document more!

What are some ways you've used technology to chronicle your children's lives?