I've been shrunk by the kids

Five years ago Julie Myerson was outed as the writer of the anonymous column Living with Teenagers, published in a UK newspaper. At the same time, her new book, The Lost Child, revealed that her son Jake was a cannabis addict and his behaviour was traumatising the family.

Myerson and her husband had kicked him out of home to protect his younger siblings, and the locks were changed. Jake subsequently told the press that her writing about the children had been traumatic, but that he wasn't a drug addict. He intimated his mother's column was the source of his behavioural problems. What followed were reams of backstabbing and judgment, along with some interesting discussion about writing about your personal life.

Not put off by her experience, I wrote my first Minor Matters column, documenting a typical sleepless night in a home with three children under five. It was first published online, anonymously. Soon my weekly vignettes moved into the paper with my byline strapped along the top.

Protected by my small children's illiteracy, I felt safe. If I wrote about their nose-picking, petty lying and the silly things they said, they would never know. They couldn't feel betrayed.

That changed quickly, as quickly as they grew up. Although the eldest rarely reads this column (who would if you're a Harry Potter fan?), she occasionally comes home from school horrified: how could you?

Now, there is a regular refrain from all of them: don't you dare write about this.

Though I didn't think it would, their reading ability has changed my column. I haven't given them total veto power but my writing has become less personal, often more issue-based than I had planned it to be. And not as much fun.

Myerson, who suffered a breakdown after her outing in 2009, has admitted that she made a mistake with Living with Teenagers. She said in an interview that it went on for too long and invaded her children's privacy. She now feels "ashamed".

So before I get myself into trouble at home, I'll leave my children's adolescence, my tears and frustrations and what I expect to be an entertaining time, to the privacy of our home. Thank you for reading me.