The Too Cute Family, Part Two

From the comments I've received, several readers have a problem with what I posted regarding the Too Cute Family. That my comments could be hurtful. Or, what if I should one day come down with a chronic illness, who would listen to me moan and groan about it? (I'm paraphrasing but the original comments are in the post below).

So, my looking at photos of children is my payment to others so that they'll listen to me moan and groan? Number one, I do have a chronic illness. I have it, but it doesn't have me. Number two, I don't moan and groan about it or bore people with details. Most people don't even know.

What inspired my original post was receiving the link to a family website that had 23 pages. Correction: 23 pages of thumbnails...each photo, about a dozen per page, had to be individually clicked on to view it. One reader said that it is easy to ignore websites (again, I'm paraphrasing the original comment). Not so in this age of stat counters that show where traffic comes from, ISP used, browser, etc. If you try to fake it "That one of Timmy going down the slide backwards was so cute," and that was the only photo you looked at, they come back with "Didja see the one of Susie with the clown, and the one of Timmy eating the snow cone, and the one..."

Most of the parents that I know, especially those with young children, seem to be making this photo thing a hobby. Scrapbooks, websites, email attachments, photos by the dozens when you meet them at the grocery store. I truly don't get it. And I am truly bored by it. I love hearing what my friends are up to, but it seems that all many of them are up to is photographing their children's every move. I asked a woman that I know "So, what have you been up to?" "I'm exhausted! All I do is take the kids to karate, soccer, swimming, art classes, gymnastics, drama, Kindermusic," etc., etc., etc. Sad that so many parents give up having a life once they have children. One can still have interests besides having children, without neglecting them. What a concept!

One website showed a little girl wearing not less than 15 outfits, mainly dresses. I remarked to the mother "Susie sure has a lot of dresses!" The mom then confides that Susie may only have one or two dresses...she "buys" clothing, hides the tags, has her daughter photographed in the clothing, and then returns the items to the store. Incredible. Seeing my shocked expression, she says "Oh, all the moms do it!" Not all the moms. It never occurred to me.

My beef is with the constant barage of photos, and videos. Being invited to the homes of some people for a meal ends up being pizza on our laps while watching videos of the Too Cute Family, and having to "oooh" and "aaah" over the videos. Then there are the video links to youtube they want us to watch. Don't these folks have a life? What are they going to do when these children grow up and don't want to be dressed up and photographed anymore? What are the parents going to do when the kids leave home? Kids do grow up, and too fast. I think that those are likely the parents who will suffer big time from the empty nest syndrome. And may be the meddling in-laws, destined to become out-laws.

What evidence do I have?

Another email, from another parent. "You sound like you don't think very highly of parents. What evidence do you have that parents aren't doing their job? Your posts are insulting and judgmental"

What evidnce do I have that parents today aren't doing a good job? Where do I begin...the evidence could fill a book. Many books, in fact.

At a restaurant recently, two teen boys were cursing up a bluestreak while their parents stood by and didn't say a word. I often hear parents calling their kids "stupid," "dummy," moron," "no good," "lazy" and so on. Kids will up or down to your expectations, but many parents are too damned wimpy to set standards or expectations. That might mean they'll actually have to do something when the kid misbehaves. Lord forbid Mom should get up off the computer or Dad should get up from the TV. The world is full of armchair parents. Hey, Dear Parent! Raising children is NOT a spectator sport!

More evidence: Teen girls walking around looking like hoochie mamas. "Princess" on the bottom of her short, short shorts. "Made you look" across the chest of a T-shirt that was well filled out. Boys with pants so baggy, the crotch is at their knees. There's your sign...

Dear Parent, is it realy your desire to see your daughter's emulating the Hooters waitresses, or your son's emulating the prison culture? I, for one, don't want to look at your daughter's cleavage, her belly button, or any other part of her intimate anatomy. I do not want to see your son's butt crack or his underwear.

More coming soon.