DAILY SNACK
I once read something about women — mothers — undermining their identities by using images of their kids as their Facebook profile pictures.
There was a shred of truth to that, it seemed.
Where there once was the image of a young woman,
There is now a drooling baby, grinning toddler, or worse,
A pet.
I would like to defend, however, pictures of mothers with their children.
They could be saying that this is me now as a nurturing caregiver,
This is a representative shot from my daily life.
I suppose.
Or it could simply be the sad truth,
That very rarely does anybody take a picture of the mom.
They take pictures of the kids and sometimes,
Every once in a while,
The mom happens to be in the shot.
So when it comes to switching up your profile pic, it could simply be,
That those are the shots you have to work with.
4 replies on “Moms and Their Profile Pics”
I wrote about this last year (http://hellomelissa.net/2009/06/04/profile-photos-are-agonizing-enough-thanks/).
My take is still the same. I still think profile pictures should have the person they are profiling in them (so you know you have the right person and all that). But I also think that pictures of someone with their kid (or their dog, or their car, or new purse or *whatever*) is not such a bad thing. You’re showcasing what’s important in your life.
I take most of the pictures in my house, so I’m not in a lot of them. So yeah, I do what I can with what I’ve got. :)
Great post. Thanks for doing my research for me; that was the article I read. I’ll link her up.
The people I know use a wide variety of profile pictures, and change them all the time. These include images of themselves and their pets or spouses, cartoon caricatures, plants, buildings, flags and famous people.
As a result, I see no reason why a parent can’t put a picture of her kid up. Any backlash against such a thing says more about the complainant than it does about the person profiled.
P.S. Rebecca, I love your pictures with your kids. I’d put one of my husband and daughter up except that he’s afraid he “looks fat” in it. :)
And P.P.S. Far worse are people whose profile pictures are brittle and posed or years out of date.
Oooh, yes. Those 10-year-old glamour shots have got to go!