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Thursday, July 2, 2009 12:00 AM

"Shut up, parents"

Moms and dads are posting the disgusting details of child-rearing on Facebook. One blogger fights back

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Thursday, July 2, 2009 05:28 PM

@unmutual

Get off your self-righteous high horse, please.

First of all, insulting us by calling us a “cynical hipster” or “hipster d-bag” doesn't help your case, it just makes you look stupid. Childfree people are not get-drunk-every-weekend “hipsters”. We are professionals, we are old, young, academics, students, etc.

And whatever you do, do not feel sorry for me for CHOOSING not to have children. I have logically and intelligently looked at my options and decided that they were not for me. I lead an incredibly rich life of friends, travel, work and study and the “big ball” of my life is fulfilling and rewarding to no end.

You, unmutual, are the one that needs to STFU. You are smug and should re-evaluate your position on how you treat people who choose a different lifestyle.

P.S. It is because of people like her that childfree people like me label some of you as “breeders”.

Thursday, July 2, 2009 06:39 PM

Sarcasm Has Its Place

I love babies. I have been a babysitter since the age of 9. I cannot wait until my husband and I have one of our own. I love my friends who have babies, and I love talking to my friends about their babies.

And, I love STFU, Parents.

Even in the posts you reference about moms complaining about being tired, etc., the blogger is not making fun of the fact that the moms are saying they are tired -- she's poking fun at the moms elevating their baby-induced tiredness over all other forms of tiredness, or that their baby-induced busy-ness is the busiest form of busy-ness. It's the complete me-and-my-baby-are-the-world mentality that gets some well-deserved snark. Even some moms who have been called out on the blog have written in, according to the blogger, to ruefully laugh at themselves.

Motherhood is wonderful, and children are a gift. If the blog was hating on all moms, or hating on kids ("little Lucy calls *that* a cartwheel? Puh-leeze!"), I would be right with you on questioning the value of the blog. However, Facebook is a public venue. Moms who write that door-to-door "do-gooders" should stay away, or that neighbors shouldn't mow their lawns during the middle of the day, because a baby is sleeping need to understand that's a little laughable. Before you know it, we'll have a Momzillas show to go with Bridezillas -- people who are being difficult just because they can, because the world has turned its attention their way for this special time and they're going to make the most of it. Even if that means pulling the parent card for so many years that they think nothing of posting to the world that their teen daughter just started her period.

Thursday, July 2, 2009 09:10 PM

I second this:

I find it worse to create a site just for the purpose of mocking people. It's mean. At least the people who are over-sharing aren't being spiteful. Why do we think it's okay to have humor with a victim?

Yeah, no joke, and I mean that in both ways.

It's supposed to be sooooo funny to point and laugh, but it's not. It's especially not when the idea is to rain good and hard on someone else's parade. It doesn't make pointer and laugher look even remotely cool, smart or above it all. It just looks mean.

If you don't like the attractions of other people's parades, you don't have to attend, not even if it's so-and-so who works two cubicles down from you. Don't friend them, or put some limits on your information stream. Facebook lets you do that.

And yeah, I'm like Grandma. I enjoy the ongoing flow of inconsequential stuff, like new mom updates, loopy kid pics, loopy animal pics, weird hobbies, and whatever else comes up.

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