Reasons his son has every right to be crying

There’s a lot to like about Reasons My Son is Crying, the latest Tumblr to go viral. The idea is cute, the kid is cute, and parents everywhere can relate to it. But if you’re like me, sites like this just make you cringe.

Why? Because it’s nothing but a series of embarrassing photos of a kid, which are going to be on the web forever, in spite of that kid not being old enough to have any say in the matter.

Photos of young children on the web are a tricky business, and different parents have different attitudes. Some parents won’t post a single shred of information about their children online, because the web is full of pedophiles. Others are happy to post a constant, insufferable, unending stream of content that would bore even the most committed child molester to tears.

My attitude is a simple one: I think we should all have the right to determine our online identity. Until my kid is old enough to make her own decisions, I think it’s our responsibility to manage her identity for her. And the more liberal we are today, the less authority she’ll have tomorrow.

I’m protective, but not to a fault. I post photos of my kid on Facebook, where our friends and family can enjoy them. I talk about her at length on public forums like this, but I don’t tend to use her name. We haven’t kept her under lock and key, but we’ve done a pretty good job of keeping her within our circle.

What I don’t do, and what I wouldn’t do, is post photo after photo on a public forum of my kid at her most miserable. That’s just my opinion on the issue, but I happen to think it’s the right one.

I’m not saying I’m a better father than the guy who created Reasons My Son is Crying. All I’m saying is I’ll bet one of those reasons is “Because his dad’s a bit of an asshole.”

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