Brett Berk

The Gay Uncle went to visit a friend this weekend at the house she’d recently bought upstate. Since he’d last seen her, she’d had one baby boy, and managed to get herself pregnant with another. She and her hubby seem to be doing a great job with the kid–he’s chatty and sweet, and more importantly, doesn’t seem to need constant adult input in order to enjoy himself. But they seem to be struggling (like many folks) on the parent-friend front. The other moms and dads they meet these days are all INSANE. This didn’t exactly surprise Gunc. (Have you read his book?) What did surprise him was his friend’s illustrative story. They recently hosted a party for their son’s first birthday and, as with most parties, there were a bunch of people there, some of whom knew each other, and some who didn’t, but all of whom were connected through the host. The day after the celebration, a mommy-pal emailed the hosts. Her tone immediately went from zero to irate. “It came to my attention during the birthday event that some of your guests recognized my daughter, apparently from photos you posted on your Flickr page. How dare you exploit my child, and put her at risk like this! I need you to remove those pictures right away, and desist from adding any others. If you want to put your son in danger, that’s your business, but my family won’t be party to this practice.” Now the G.U. understands kids’ right to privacy, but recognizing the children of your peers’ pals at a birthday isn’t exactly tantamount to endangerment; that’s called “being friendly”. Studies have shown conclusively that the danger of on-line predators is grossly exaggerated by the media, with some explorations even stating that the numbers of actual examples are too small to draw any useful conclusions about incidence. Kids are at a monumentally greater risk getting in a car, being left with relatives, living near a pool, or being entrusted in the care of their parents (four kids a day in the U.S. die from parental abuse and neglect.) So, parents: relax. Also, when something does freak you out: check yourselves and your tone. If you’re not sure whether you’re going off half-cocked, feel free to send your draft email to the Gay Uncle first. He’s happy to let you know if you sound like a demented wacko. (Hint: you probably do.)