Why I don’t feel guilty about spamming your Facebook feed with pictures of my adorable child…

May 21, 2014


Before I had a child I admit I may have been one of those slightly judgmental folks that would roll my eyes as I saw yet another video being posted of a friend’s child doing absolutely nothing. If I was lucky the video would be of a kid puking all over someone or something else as outrageously awesome, but those videos were far and few between. Then of course there were the endless photos of  a baby eating, crawling, sitting, staring, eating, crawling, well you get my point. Let’s be real, babies really don’t do much and toddlers, although they have their moments, just play on repeat. I mean, come on, there are more important things in the world than having to see pictures of your kid’s first, second, third and all the other steps you decide necessary to post.

At this point you tend to reassess your friendship with said Facebook friend. If they are an old acquaintance or a drifted friendship, let’s be honest, they would probably be next on your monthly purge list. Then there are those friends who you know you can’t delete, at least without a guilty conscience or a future awkward discussion on how darn old Facebook must have mysteriously deleted them. Stupid technology these days.

The friends who make it past the cut are clearly very dear to you, so you are willing to put up with the constant barrage of baby videos that you don’t even watch but hit “like” because you’d like to seem like you care. If you are feeling patience you might even watch the first 10 seconds or at least until you somehow validate your conscience.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love kids. Did I understand why parents felt the need to document every single one of their children’s milestones for the world to see? Hell no.

Do I now? Hell yes.

After having a child of my own I feel like a complete judgmental idiot and I apologize to all those people that had to deal with me while I self righteously followed the previous thought process.

Let me ask you a question. If you created something that had never existed before, something that had the potential to change the future of our world, would you not want to shout it from the roof tops?! If you had been given the responsibility to mold the most intricate creation so it could reach it’s utmost potential, would you not be bursting with pride? I think it is safe to assume that you would want to share this new promotion that entailed learning skills beyond your wildest dreams. Where everyday you witnessed the beauty and rawness of life as your creation grew at such rapids speeds, that with every blink it became something even greater.

Now forgive me if I’m wrong, I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t be able to find a job that comes close to fitting that description or that element of fulfillment. (Unless you have found the cure to world hunger, and if so, you should really tell someone.)

So with that being said, the next time you want to roll your eyes as your feed is “spammed” by babies in diapers try this on for size. That woman had a FREAKING HUMAN BEING grow inside of her. She created it with HER own body, carried it around for 9 months, endured things you don’t even want to know about in order to pop it out. Follow this by months of running on an hour of sleep, covered in puke, vomit, breast milk and who knows what else all while trying to not kill the thousandth person who asks if her baby is sleeping through the night yet. So when that bundle of love manages to smile, roll over or take their first steps it as a hell of a big deal. (shout out and a sincere thank you to all the dads who have to put up with the hormonal mothers and crying babies, don’t think I forgot about you!)

To be given the gift of witnessing a tiny person growing at such speeds is truly priceless. The pride and love that consumes you is unexplainable and all you want to do is show as many people as possible what you are most passionate about. So as I scroll through my feed and see Instagrams of brunch, mani pedis, duck faces or yet another shared cat video I promise to make a concentrated effort to not roll my eyes. And as I read yet another status update on what you ate that day I will try to remember that clearly this is what you must be most passionate about, so please forgive me as I spam your feed with what I am most passionate about, my life as a mom and my beautiful child.

Welcome to my blog and thank you for reading the first post. I plan on using this blog to document my struggles and achievements as a mother, artist and mischievous prankster. So be prepared for countless photos of my hilarious toddler, videos of pranks I pull on unsuspecting victims and hopefully some decent blog posts. I will also provide plenty of firsthand advice on what NOT to do as I figure this whole mother thing out. 

Yours truly,
The Mischievous Mommy

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3 comments

  1. I have to say, as a dad I had the same views, OMG not another baby pic or video. Now proud owner of a 16 month old little girl, I'm the one spamming LOL. There is no way I could describe the love one feels for our children, it's not the same at all as one felt for anyone else, it has to be one of the strongest feelings, you would give your life without a moments thought for the little one, it's that strong and rewarding. I do agree, once you go through the parts that are hard and the baby starts to learn things, it's an amazing feeling of accomplishment, look what I managed to teach this little person who can't really speak my language right now and to whom I can't sit down and talk to them and explain things and have a clue if they even understood a single word I said, that alone is an accomplishment in itself, not to mention the idea that your life may some how get a little easier with the toddler as they continue to learn, you look forward to that moment where you can have that heart to heart chat, so that too makes you happy and want to share. I also have to say I have completely different view on kids right now, I use to see kids scream and yell and use to annoy me, now I see other kids do it and I smile and think how cute and when I see them do something that before I thought OMG can't even do that right, now I see it as awww look what they learned to do, smart kid. It changes your entire perspective and I would not change any of it for anyone that told me, it bugs them. I am a proud father, I am deeply involved in my daughters life, I help my wife with her as soon as I get home I take over, I change all the diapers during the time I am home, I bathe her, I feed her, I do story time, I put her to bed and take her to the park, and the more involved I am, the more I understand a mother's feeling (Even though I will never understand what it was like to carry that child and feel it move and live inside) But I am sure my love and devotion is pretty close :D.

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  2. BTW I have enjoyed many of your posts on Facebook and I think you're an amazing mom, and Eve is one adorable little girl :D

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  3. Thank you so much for your comments Mike!! I'm thrilled to hear your take on it as a father, your love for Lily absolutely shines! Every moment you spend with her strengthens the bond you two have in the moment and for the future.
    It really is amazing how a person's perspective on parenthood transforms when they have their own child, you become a whole new person! I can honestly say I look forward to seeing your Facebook posts of Lily :)

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