"Sometimes, life is hard. I have rewritten and reworked that sentence hundreds of times today each time coming back to my computer and changing this or that. After all the change I am back to where I started, life is hard. It was never meant to be easy, it is supposed to challenge us every single day so we continue to grow within ourselves and within the Lord.
"Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain." (Isaiah 40:4)
When we make a straight path to our hearts for the Lord our challenges and our life will become delightful.
Many of my old readers know that I left "blog land", it has been about a year since and every day I questioned that decision that I made and I think at the time it was the proper decision for myself. There were nasty rumors traveling around and cruel comments being said that shook me to my core.
On my blog I am funny, an extrovert, the person who I wish I was in real life when in truth I'm an introvert, people don't laugh at my jokes and often over look me. I am just a simple person living my life one that has been so greatly blessed. Yet, as rumors and cruel comments started to be spread about myself, my family and my life I was consumed with what people had to say. Every comment stung me to the core.
I felt as if I was in high school, again, I called over my friend and she told me that there was no reason to let this consume me they were unkind untrue words, and unlike "real life" I could simple shut this "bad" part out of my life by click a red button. Which is exactly what I did. I decided it was in my best interest of myself and my families that I close my blog and move on from this chapter in my life.
The last year was a growing experience for me in every way. I have become more of the person I was online in real life, I have grown in the Lord and prioritized my life. After much thought I have decided that I am going to reopen my blog because it is exactly that my blog. It is a scrapbook of my life and my families life, one that deserves to be and needs to be kept.
I may not have the perfect life or be the perfect person but my life is sweet and that's all I ever wanted it to be. And without further ado here are the three children who make this blog everything it is, three children who look like they have been blasted into the future and even I don't know how it happened."
She would know what it's like to be in high school, since she's still there. We walk a fine line with Kelsey....do we expose what we know? Or not? Because she's not legally an adult yet.
On the other hand, this is how Gina started. We have evidence she was online scamming people from 16 years old, younger than Kelsey.
We will contact BlogHer, but should we contact her parents? How about her church instead? She's a kid with a fake life on a blog...why should there be repercussions for that? How about if she's pretending to be the guardian of the children she is just babysitting? What would you mothers out there want done?
For now, we leave you with a link to her blog in the Wayback Machine. It should provide enough information to prove she's not 32/34 (she can't remember from site-to-site) and that these children aren't hers in a "foster arrangement."
14 comments:
If she was babysitting for me and those were photos of my kids she was putting on the internet without my permission, I would want to know.
"Anonymous said...
She has two email accounts linked to ***... gmail vs. ymail. One is Kelsey Smith... the other is Kelsey **** (graduates in '11). Totally the same girl."
Thanks, anon. But since she's still a minor, we don't want to list too much identifying info.
Heather, thanks for your insight.
I think its one thing exposing her here (and actually I'm all for that), but reporting her to her school and family? I'm not really sure that is your/our place. Things tend to spread through the internet quickly anyway so chances are they'd find out in time anyway. As far as age goes, I think that is irrelevant and she should be exposed regardless of age. After all, no matter what her age, she is sucking people in.
I absolutely think you should contact her parents. If she is a minor and you can not expose her there, then the responsible adults need to know!
I would be furious if someone was out there pretending to be a parent to my children. It is incredibly creepy and I'd definitely want to know.
I know she suckered lots of people in last time and I hope people get wise to her soon. She needs some help if she's back to doing this again and didn't learn her lesson after being exposed last time.
Scary.
I most definitely feel you should expose her to her family. I would probably also expose her on here. She put herself online therefor she has opened herself up to being exposed online. Of course this is just my opinion.
As far as how I'd feel is my babysitter posed as my children's parents (foster or otherwise), I'd be furious. I would want to take any actions allowed against the child for it, if there are any to be taken.
One more thing. I just went back to check out her page and the strange thing about this is that she actually says in her About Me: "I watch the three best kids in this world."
But then she goes on to talk about "raising" these kids. So weird.
I've actually had her name pop up on my facebook (because we had emailed back and forth before I knew she was a fraud) and it lists her as a high school student. She's definitely got some major issues.
Saw this:
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2eq7whz&s=4
That is the same girl from the scrap sites.
They're talking about her here too:
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=611446092248022860&postID=5958123377009649993&page=1
I think the parents should know. She's 17? That's old enough to know better.
Don't identify her but DO contact her parents and the parents of the children in the photos.
The family of the children she watches needs to know that pictures of their children are being posted on the internet, especially if the photos are taken in a private (home) setting. Depending on the laws in her state, posting such photos without the parent's consent may be against the law.
I noticed she changed her info to say she watches the kids but still clearly writes about them as if they are her children. Her parent's should know that she is misrepresenting herself.
Looks like she's taken her blog down again. I tried accessing it this evening and it was password protected...
Her blog is still available here:
http://www.zimbio.com/member/kelsmith1992
Do you have any further info on the MckMama saga? I've never taken her at face value because I think she over exagerates but I'm feeling like this latest episode is more than over exagerating. How she is twittering while in the CICU is beyond me...they have a very strict no cell phone policy :(
I read Kelsey's blog a few times, back before any hint of this came out. I loved her photography, and you know what? Funnily enough I did think there was something "different" about her tone, different from most of the other mommyblogs I had read, but I honestly didn't think there was anything suspicious in that. I just found her more detachedly poetic than most mothers, and I thought that was actually very neat; sort of a breath of stylistic fresh air, how she was documenting the activities and foibles of her children without falling into the same intimate tone that most mothers seem to use. Now, of course, I can see why that would be the case!
As to that last question of yours, would I, as a mother, want to know if some teenage girl was spilling my children's faces all over the Internet? If my babysitter was passing my kiddos off as her own? HELL YES. If I choose to set up a blog or flickr account for family and friends to follow, so be it. I control the privacy level there, because I can password protect and hand out invites as I see fit. But if somebody I invite into my home and trust with my kids does something like that without my knowledge or consent, parading my children all over cyberspace with me having no way to control whose computer they end up on? You better believe I'd want to know about it.
Does ANYBODY recognize those kids? There have got to be parents or guardians out there who have a right to know what is being done with these images of their children. I don't for a moment think she should be outed to the general population; she may be old enough to know better, but she is underage and somebody else's daughter. But the parents of those kids need to know what is being done with their children's photos.
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