I get emails from Bust Magazine sent to me and sometimes I find an article that interests me through this emailing. However, the one I got today featured a blog post promoting the website STFU Parents.
This is not the first time I’ve heard about this site, or the first time I was bothered by it. The author/owner of the STFU site’s “about me” starts with “You used to be fun. Now you have a baby.” Ouch.
The “You’re not a parent and too stupid to understand why this site is bad” Versus the “You are a parent and too stupid to see why this site is funny” flame war that took place in the comments to that Bust blog post was not a surprise to me.
Listen, I make fun of myself a lot. I make light of my Asian heritage, my lack of coordination, my natural nerdiness, and of course my parenting skills. But something about the concept of the STFU parents website just really can hit a raw nerve with me and obviously the commenters on that BUST post.
For me becoming a parent was surprising in so many ways. First, I was shocked at how hard it was for me. Not because the act of parenting is inherently hard, but because I have never been more UNSURE of my ability to do something the right way in my life (besides any group sport). I was not prepared for the insecurity that I associated with being a mom. In no other instance have I become more painfully aware of the fact that good intentions are not necessarily a road to success.
Second, I was not prepared for how having a child can drastically affect your social life and relationships with those around you. Lack of sleep? Ok, saw that one coming. The need to revamp my definition of socializing? Not so much.
So what does this have to do with the STFU website? I am sure that some parents find the STFU website funny. In fact I know they do from reading their comments on related blog posts, but to me – I guess it just hits too close to home. I fully support the right that this website has to exist and the right for people to find it really funny and I wouldn’t be crazy enough to participate in a comments debate about it. But I just hope I don’t see any of my Facebook status posts up there any time soon.
And…I think I’ll unsubscribe from that BUST mailing list.
