A couple of weeks ago, my oldest son, 9-year-old Hayden, came home from school and told me about his friend Katie's blog. Then he asked, "Can I start my own blog?" I thought it was a great way for him to learn new things. So I asked, "What would you want to write about?" Then we had a chat about a few choices. Eventually, Hayden decided on a particular animal species so that he could help other school kids learn about them.

    That Friday night, we set up a blog for him and Hayden's Animal Facts was born. He has posted four times so far. As we talked about starting a blog, I thought about some problems of a child blogging. Here are a few of the considerations that I had.

    Blogging isn't a popularity contest. At first, Hayden cared too much about how many views he had. After a couple of discussions, he now realizes that it's more important to come up with helpful contents for those who want to learn more about animals.

    Online security. I'm concerned about online security, so I make sure that there isn't too much personal information about him.

    The value of persistence (坚持). In so many ways, blogging is like a marathon. Keeping blogging teaches him the value of persistence.

    Writing and spelling skills. Much to my surprise, Hayden is terrible at spelling. However, he loves writing, has a great imagination and is always working on little books, so hopefully the process of blogging will help him with his writing and spelling skills.