No mercy: John Stamos carried his son the ‘wrong’ way and people called him out
You know … how are we going to encourage mums and dads to feel confident in their parenting skills, if we continually call-out and shame parents over rookie or technical errors?
Rookie error?
Take Fuller House star and new dad John Stamos, for instance. He’s the latest parent to be shamed online for not executing a perfect manoeuvre – and honestly, this whole mean sport has to be reaching a tipping point?
The obviously dastardly Stamos dared to share a photo of himself and the new baby son he recently welcomed (with wife Caitlin McHugh.) In the image, John’s in New York City’s Times Square, proudly strutting the papa strut with two-month-old Billy tucked into a carrier.
Read more about celebrity dads:
- “Take your baby momma out”: Dawson’s Creek star shares dating tip for parents
- Justin Timberlake ‘dad shamed’ after posting a picture of his son on Instagram
- Watch: Tristan Thompson singing and smooching with baby True
Are people happy they are having a nice time? Are they thrilled John is promoting babywearing for dads? Are they jealous John Stamos is not snuggling them to his front too?
No. They’re upset that John has not achieved best practice when it comes to toting his tot. And they’re calling him out on it very vocally from way, way up on their very high horse. They’re kind of jubilant about catching him out, too.
Shame, shame, shame
This sort of call-out and pile-on is a favourite sport of the internet now. It’s a sort of variation on those ‘spot the difference’ games we used to play before Instagram. Scan the image for something imperfect or rankling, then start tapping into your phone to alert the poor bugger who posted it. More often than not the person is a stranger and more often than not the critique is seared into a bossy directive, with no time for diplomacy. Ugh.
“Face him inwards for a few more months,” a commenter commanded.
“The baby must go head to chest with you, that’s the wrong way carrying him because his back suffers …” another scolded.
“He’s too young to comfortably and safely be worn forward facing! His little hips are not ready!” one person critiqued.
“The baby must go in front of you, looking to you. His back can be damaged,” another warned.
John – like Chrissy Teigen, Justin Timberlake, Hilary Duff, Khloé Kardashian and many other high profile parents who’ve gone before him – is now well and truly alerted to the dangers of posting happy, unguarded snaps of his child online.
Here’s hoping he takes it all in and … ignores the haters (and continues to do the best he can with the information he has.)
And as Jennifer Beall Saxton, founder and CEO of baby gear company, The Tot Squad, said when Today asked her about John’s babywearing skills – his set-up could do with a little tweaking but “his heart is clearly positioned in the exact right place.”
