May 13, 2010

"It may seem to a non-parent that this is mean-spirited and bitter."

"And perhaps some of the entries are. But a lot of them are just honest and good-natured venting, and also pretty hilarious shots of what massive damage kids can cause."

Remember that behind ever "hilarious shot" is a parent who decided that the first thing to do is — not to comfort, not to discipline, not to flush the Desitin out of their eyes — but to reach for a camera and take some pictures.

Is "Shit My Kids Ruined" a bad website?
Yes, because parents need to focus on being present in real life with their kids.
Yes, because it exacerbates hostility toward children.
No, because it can help a parent transcend anger by recognizing the humor and shared experience.
No, because it's a good warning or dose of reality to people who haven't had children yet.
  
pollcode.com free polls

35 comments:

AllenS said...

#1. When you hand the car keys to a juvenile boy. You just know that he's going to beat the shit out of your car when he's out of sight.

AllenS said...

Then you just hope he has enough sense to shut the car off when he's done.

Meade said...

Stick to putting pics of your dogs up. You won't be compromising their privacy. Plus, dogs are cuter.

Ann Althouse said...

"Stuff My Dog Ruined." We gotta start that website... and monetize it like mad. We'll get rich!

Susan said...

The first few pages were meh, but I'll admit to being completely charmed by this one:

http://shitmykidsruined.com/post/508006655

Sweet little tears.

New York said...

Some of the photos are amusing, but many of the others make the parents seem cruel, small-minded, and petty.

Meade said...

"Stuff I Ruined All By Myself By Taking Crappy Snapshots Of My Crappy Crap."

chuck b. said...

I voted "Yes, because it exacerbates hostility toward children" because that made me laugh.

MadisonMan said...

I don't find it mean-spirited.

But why are the people complaining that kids ruined their bodies? What were they expecting?

kjbe said...

Yes, humor and shared experience goes a long ways. As a parent, you learn pretty quickly that sh*t happens. Most of the time, it's not that much of a big deal.

Ann Althouse said...

"But why are the people complaining that kids ruined their bodies?"

I didn't see that one. Are women posting photographs of their lower abdomens?

Ann Althouse said...

The one titled "My Wedding" makes me angry. Kids need their own website called "Shit My Parents Ruined." There could be lots of photos titled "My Life."

Big Mike said...

I told me kids that I didn't have gray hairs on my head before they were born.

I never mention that I wasn't 40 until after they were born.

TWM said...

Raised three kids here and I can't say I found even one of these either charming or funny. Yeah, kids ruin things occasionally - painted my share of colored-on walls - but taking the time to photograph them, much less publish them on the web seems trashy and mean-spirited.

And, yes, Professor, one gal has posted her poor stretch-marked belly for all the world to see. I now have to go wash my eyes out with Desitin.

Big Mike said...

"Stuff My Dog Ruined." We gotta start that website... and monetize it like mad.

A site like that might break even Google's servers!

Anonymous said...

Raising my daughters was so great... and I'm so glad it's over.

Loved the website. Reminded me of the time my older daughter decided to use the shower rod as a jungle gym. Of course, shower rod pulled out of all. Plaster torn to pieces. Kid off to hospital for check up.

A parent learns from this. A human being becomes deeper and more interesting because of this.

The childless society is very dangerous. Living a childless life is a good way to continue to believe into old age that life is perfectible. Raising children is an education in limitations and realism.

Raising a child is the way a human being becomes an adult. You can see, in the childish preoccupations of our political system, the dangers of the extended adolescence that has become the commonplace experience of a large percentage of the electorate.

Unknown said...

shoutingthomas -- excellent

Moose said...

I had to send it to my wife who maintains a mailing list with a number of other women who had their first children in May. They all loved it.

It is so spot on I laughed long and hard. First time in a long time...

Chip Ahoy said...

Ah, the memories.

Unknown said...

i'd say pictures of the stuff that is ruined is funny, but pics of the kids is probably sending the kids the wrong message.

froggyprager said...

This reminds me of when I was a kid my buddy and I spread pink baby lotion all over the carpet at my friend’s house. I am a parent of 3 and I think the site is fun and funny. I would not assume that the first thing mom did was get the camera, many of these could have been taken well after the discipline has occurred. The evidence on the site says something about the parenting style of the family, some of these young kids were unsupervised for quite a while to make such a mess.

PatHMV said...

There's a difference between complaining and VENTING. That's what I see here. I'm not a parent, but I've dated parents and have siblings who are much (20-30 years) younger than me, so I've got some experience with the little creatures. I don't see anything cruel or mean-spirited in the site. As did the large majority of voters in the poll, I voted "No, because it can help a parent transcend anger by recognizing the humor and shared experience." I don't see any of those parents claiming to be surprised by any of that, stretch marks, saggy breasts, sharpied walls, mornings lost to removing nail polish from all over.

Haven't you read Stranger in a Strange Land? We laugh because otherwise we'd just lose it. Lighten up, this is really funny stuff!

master cylinder said...

hilarious-that messed up play room 'who they hardly knew' made my day

Joe said...

Definitely need to submit the photo of when my son decided to hold a big black permanent magic marker at shoulder height and walk around the upstairs.

Unfortunately, we don't have pictures of some of the worse things my siblings and I did as kids, though we have some somewhere.

Speaking of teenagers and cars; proof that they are dumb as bricks is that resetting the trip mileage indicator doesn't reset the general odometer and I can do basic subtraction. (In honor of my daughter who managed to put 1200 miles on my car one extended weekend and then denied it.)

Drew said...

Reminds me of the time my four-year-old walked up behind me while I was working at my desk, and proceeded to draw on the back of my shirt. I thought she was just using her finger. Only later when I took it off did I realize that my shirt was covered in black permanent marker. I still have the shirt. Should I snap a picture?

knox said...

Funny, mostly harmless.

The wedding one is a little weird, because it makes you think he doesn't like the dad.

The evidence on the site says something about the parenting style of the family, some of these young kids were unsupervised for quite a while to make such a mess.

Nah, kids need very little time to make a very big mess.

Mark said...

Yes, some of the pictures are in bad taste. Yes, some of them you have to say, well, what did you expect.

But some of them provide for me a bit of vicarious moral support, knowing that my three-year-old twins give me plenty of company with other people just trying to survive their children while making sure they survive.

Mark said...

Nah, kids need very little time to make a very big mess.

If you don't have them, you would not BELIEVE how little time it takes twin toddlers to make a catastrophe.

Freeman Hunt said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Freeman Hunt said...

Did you know that you should not clean the body of an upright piano with rubbing alcohol?

Did you know that a bar of Ivory soap works very well as a piece of chalk on a guest's tweed Hartmann luggage?

Just a couple of things my parents learned from me many years ago.

Joan said...

The wedding one was cruel.

Many of the others made me laugh. My 2 older kiddos once emptied an entire bottle of baby powder in the upstairs bath and proceeded to play in it, pretending it was "snow." Powder everywhere. Thankfully they didn't inhale (much) of it and no one developed any lung problems. I think they had enough time to do it because I was nursing their little brother, but by now I have (mercifully) forgotten the details.

Another time they wanted to do finger-painting so I just had them strip down first and go for it (washable paints mixed with liquid starch make excellent finger paint) -- their little bodies were much easier to clean up than their clothes would have been.

Kids are messy and require supervision. As long as you're willing to accept those 2 principals, you'll be fine.

Selina Street said...

I think Ann there are lots kids with 'Stuff my Parents Ruined' websites its called their FaceBook page..

I'm astounded at some of the comments here which seem to attribute a malicous motive in the parents' posting of the photo. They seem to me to be more in the range of rueful humour.

I went and looked for the photo of the woman's abdomen and I think it is being a little misrepresented, the pregnant woman's stomach looks absolutely livid with stretchmarks and the caption reads "Yeah, that f***ing cocoa butter does wonders"

http://shitmykidsruined.com/post/517204749#disqus_thread

To me it smacked more of a moment of self awareness at ones changing body in pregnancy. Though I know the pay off makes any 'price' pale into insignificance as a first time pregnant woman I can tell you watching you body change is both amazing and a little frightening.

Selina Street said...

Sorry to clarify not necessarily frightening in a OMG I won't look the same ever again way but more that realisation yup with all our pretensions of civilisation we're just mammels.

Unknown said...

My sister and I once Turtle Waxed the sun visors in our dad's truck.

We didn't get in trouble because Dad knew we meant well. But it's amazing he didn't have a stroke. He certainly didn't take any photos.

Methadras said...

Ann Althouse said...

"Stuff My Dog Ruined." We gotta start that website... and monetize it like mad. We'll get rich!


I have enough to make that happen with this one alone. Like the time Bucky (my 5 year old boxer) ate part of a Tempurpedic pillow. I think he was about 1 year old. It took him the better part of a day to crap that out. Poor guy was crapping out foam and he didn't know why. It scarred him to the point that he became what I call a 'curious shitter'. Basically that every time he goes potty he has to turn around and look at it to make sure it isn't foam and in doing so he starts doing doggie squat pirouettes. He's eaten tapes, cd's, glass and each time I realize he did it, I'm off to the vet to make sure he doesn't have any punctures down his gullet. Luckily nothing serious at all. I think he's part goat.

One time, he ate he ate a bunch of flies because he thought it was fun to catch them while they flew around. I think he nailed 10 or so. He got really sick from that one. He vomited all day all over the carpet. That was fun cleaning that up. He loved my wifes leather shoes. He really liked baseboards and plantation shutters too. I love him so. :D