Too many people have asked me to weigh in on this photo that ThatWife posted to her Instagram account, showing her two adorable children playing something called the robot massager game so here's what I think about it: No. Nope nope nope nope no. I have no issue with adults owning adult things. I have no issue with kids crawling into adult beds. What I do have an issue with is a mom posting something like this on the interwebs, where it can potentially haunt her kids forever, and also, I don't care how sterilized you think certain things are — that looks like a pretty good recipe for an eye infection to me. I have chosen not to embed the image here because I don't wish to add to any embarrassment her kids may face in the future, but you can view it at this link.
Salon covered this story a few days ago and got a quote from the mom in question, Jenna Andersen, who had this to say about it:
"I bought the Hitachi because everyone assured me I would love using it in an 'off-label' sort of way. I gave it a go, but found that there are other vibrators I like a lot more," she wrote in an email. "Now I have a $60 electronic getting dusty in a cupboard. My kids discovered it recently and immediately deemed it 'The Robot.'" And then she had this supremely smart thing to say: "Posting [the photo] felt like a funny way to comment on what it's like to move between being a woman and being a mother, and how strange it feels to have those two selves encounter each other in the presence of my children."
I'm not sure I really get that last part, because my kids have seen me being a woman and a mother at the same time. I guess I do stereotypical "womanly" things around them and I don't hide the fact that in addition to being their mother, I'm an actual adult human with my own interests. I just wouldn't share every adult interest I have with my kids. Because I'm an adult and they are children. Plus, I can't help but feel that this just falls into the parental overshare category and could one day embarrass her kids when they are older. Sure, snap a picture and stick it in the personal family album and show them one day. Don't post it on the internet. It also feels to me like this was posted just to get the pearl clutchers in a tizzy, which it has obviously done. Aren't there other ways to draw attention to your blog?
More parental overshares
Why I chose to shame my child in public
Mom, don't put me on Facebook
What kind of social media mom are you?