It seems like everyone has an opinion about what people should and shouldn't be posting on Facebook, and childless men and women often have the strongest ones. For many the consensus is this: Baby and child photos aren't cool. I say that is hooey and this idea that women shouldn't put up baby photos for fear of looking like they don't have a life is both unfair and silly.
For parents, our children are our lives. We put them to bed at night, wake up with them in the morning, and think about them every waking second in between. There is no "off" button or vacation time when one is a parent. So, yes. Our children are our lives. There is nothing wrong with that.
Good parents are interested in everything their baby does and says, and some people (like me!) love seeing baby photos on Facebook. Yes, seriously.
I love seeing my friends fall in love with their new babies. I love seeing their new babies smile and coo. I love seeing them laugh in videos and grow up on Facebook. It's one of the best parts of Facebook.
So why the hate? A friend of mine who is a new mom recently had a status about becoming one of the people she used to mock before she was a mom for posting too much about their kids. She was embarrassed to be in love with her baby and to want to share that.
That same day, another friend posted a baby photo of her newborn daughter with the caption: "I promise to not be that Facebook person who inundates you with kid photos!" Since a large majority of my friends are moms, I was surprised to hear people have these strong opinions about kid photos, but my assumption is that they're jealous.
After all, those childless people post "inane" photos, too. They post photos of liquor bottles and dinners out. They post photos of themselves posing in bikinis and giving the thumbs up sign and falling down drunk and laughing with their friends. At least kid photos prove we are doing productive things with our time, like, you know, RAISING the next generation and all.
If someone's Facebook profile annoys me, I don't click on it. It's really quite simple. So there is no other reasonable explanation for hating on moms that doesn't include jealousy, especially when one is talking about childless people.
If you don't like kid photos on Facebook, don't click on them. Ignore them and don't look. But don't make us moms who love to see them feel bad. We still have lives. We just have extra rich ones.
Do you get annoyed with baby photos on Facebook?