Chapter 23 – 

"I already got 15 likes on facebook!!! - ummm…where are the kids???"

So – this past weekend we took our second trip to our local autumnal mecca of all things hay/corn/pumpkins/etc…or, as I now like to call it, Parents Fall Photo Op 2012.  

There was a pumpkin patch, a hayride, a corn maze, a hay-bale maze, pony rides, and something called a “straw crawl”  -

Here's a picture for your reference... ( for I too am guilty of exactly that which I am about to make fun of)

There’s also giant wooden scenes meant for the sole purpose of photo ops, even those ones with holes where you are supposed to put your face…let the high-jinx begin....  

You can't just get a pumpkin anymore, oh no no no no no, you need to document the adventure in 20 different places along the way.

Okay, so anyone who is "friends" with me on facebook knows that I am guilty of taking and posting an obnoxious number of pictures of my kids.  There are those who post pics of their dinner, those who tell you EVERYTHING they're doing every moment of the day and check in everywhere they go, those who start political arguments or passive aggressively fight with people who have wronged them in some way, there's the movie quoters, the lyric quoters, the play-by-play sports updaters and funny Seinfeld-style observers, and my personal favorite, the pouty lips in their bathroom mirror pics, just to name a very few…
(She does look lovely though, doesn't she?  If I got all dolled up in my best Snookie t-shirt and smushed my face up like that, I think I'd feel the need to document it as well...)

Anyway, so we all know the various facebook-offenders and where we lie in the hierarchy.  I’ve been guilty of some of these offenses (and more) at one time or another, but none more so than the high-volume-of-kid-picture-posting.  I do it all the time.  However, even as I realize and admit this about myself, I recently encountered a ridiculous phenomena that makes me look exceedingly normal by comparison (and I love discovering people who make me feel normal by comparison) –

They are those parents, (and sorry ladies, they were mostly mom’s) who are so completely and totally absorbed and obsessed with taking photos and posting them on facebook, that they are neither experiencing nor enjoying the event they are documenting.  I’ve seen these folks from time to time, but I saw them EN MASSE at the autumnal extravaganza this past weekend.  It was like they were all meeting there for a convention, a picture taking/facebook posting convention.   Now, as I’ve said, these fall-fun places are screaming PHOTO OPPORTUNITY, they really are, but I swear there were some people there who seemed like that’s truly all they cared about.  Fun for the kids was most definitely the secondary concern for these crazy broads.  (again…sorry ladies, I know there are nutty dads out there too, but this particular day, the offending parties I witnessed all happened to be women) –

The most blatant that I observed was a woman who was taking pictures of her kids climbing up what this place called the “straw crawl”.  I spotted a group near us with a couple parents and several kids who all seemed to be there together.  The kids were climbing up the straw crawl while this one lady took picture after picture after picture after picture with her phone.  She would then immediately post each picture on facebook. How do I know this?  Because she kept telling another woman in her group every time she got a “like” or a comment on one of the pictures.  She was talking about the "likes" on her 1^st picture, while she posted her 5^th, then took her 10^th, then posted that, then back to a discussion about the comments on her 3^rd.  Hard to keep up with?  Imagine you’re her!  What a mental workout!  Instead of watching and enjoying her kids having fun and running around in the mazes and crawling on straw, she stared at her phone the entire time.  I mean, the entire time.  From what I could see, the only time she even looked at her kids was through the screen on her phone to capture the next shot.  When she had sufficiently posted, labeled, commented and tagged every shot to her satisfaction, she looked around for her kids only to find that they were no where to be seen.    I’m guessing it was somewhere around shot 15 that they just took off. 

I’m happy to report that all her kids were eventually located.  I know this because unfortunately for me I ended up behind them in the very   l o n g   pony ride line.  Here she was filming little videos of her kids on the ponies, which I can only assume were promptly posted on facebook as well.   But, at least while she was filming their videos, she was forced to actually observe her kids in action, having fun.  And as I said, she was one of MANY.  Camera phones were the one accessory no one was without that afternoon.

Yes, I know, I know…for those of you that are reading this saying, “hello kettle?” remember that I did admit that I too am guilty of this, however I like to at least interact with my kids and enjoy these fun moments in time, one quick picture and then we’re back to having fun…of course the posting and facebooking can happen later ;)

So yes, when I stop to ask myself …. Wait, do I know anyone who’s guilty of taking and posting too many pictures of their kids, I’m faced with this image…

Thanks JD…I almost forgot.  Guilty as charged.