reasonsmysoniscrying.tumblr.com/
I was recently forwarded a funny tumblr site called Reasons My Son Is Crying. You may have heard of it, the blog is only days old and has already gone viral. It’s a hilarious collection of pictures of the same toddler crying (who knew there were that many different crying faces a kid could make?) for various silly, dubious reasons. Like every other toddler on the planet. Which is what makes the blog so funny.
Toddlers make absolutely no sense at all. It’s been proven. (Probably by some actual child development experts, but, also, by me.) My toddler wants to wear her bathing suit to preschool in January and tights and a dress to the pool. She’s old enough to know what she wants and not old enough to understand reason. It’s a frustrating phase that’s periodically injected with hysterical moments, which is my Reasons My Son Is Crying hits home with so many parents.
Crying and tantrums are a way of life with a toddler. And with three kids, we’ve had our share. Some of them made sense (Hey, sorry you hit your head on the chair) and some of them didn’t (No, you can’t eat the salt with a spoon). Some I could laugh at, and some have scarred me permanently. I still can’t go into PotteryBarn Kids at the mall because the sales ladies give me the look that says, “Oh, that’s the lady who had to pull her bratty kid out the door by her shoes.” And they’re right.
Reasons My Son Is Crying points out the comedy of it all with funny lines like, he’s crying “because I didn’t let him drag this shovel into the house” or “it took me longer than zero seconds to take his shirt off.” My favorite one is “because I gave him water.”
But, as with any other parenting topic (even seemingly uncontroversial ones like this), there’s an opposition group. People are starting to voice concern and even disgust that this dad would poke fun at his son’s toddlerness. Suggesting that this permanent record of his meltdowns might hurt his chances of getting into a good college or getting a job. This seems a bit of a stretch considering that this boy isn’t reading or writing yet, much less crafting college admission essays. But in the age of the internet we certainly know that what we post online can come back to haunt us in the future.
Embarrassing childhood evidence is not new. We grownups all have old photos or videos that continue to haunt us. (Don’t lie, yes you do.) We lived out our awkward years in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s – macramé vests and bell bottoms, neon lace gloves and cut-off shirts, pegged jeans and perms – we’ve all got the equivalent of “Reasons My Son is Crying” and we’ve survived.
However, our parents didn’t have the option of posting those embarrassing moments to the internet for all to see.
So here’s the question: Are we, the good hardworking parents of today, allowed to share stories and pictures of our kids’ ridiculous behavior to get some comic relief and camaraderie? Or is it going too far to post it to the internet?
I think we all have our kids’ best interests in mind, but sometimes we do things that embarrass or stress out our kids. My husband and I often throw around the ol’ “Oh just add it to her therapy bill!” It’s a joke, but not really. We try to do right by our kids every day but we’re still going to screw them up in some ways because we’re human. And we’re tired. And sometimes it’s just funny.
What do you think? Did this dad go overboard? Has he ruined his son’s chances at getting into college? Or is he just a dad trying to get through the tough toddler years with a sense of humor?
In any case, enjoy the pictures, they’ll make you laugh and give you some small relief that your kid isn’t the only one who’s capable of such craziness.
