The Backstory
The original poster’s wife (OP) is currently pregnant. OP works a lot, and his wife is home with other children. OP generally checks out his wife’s Instagram page when he’s away from home. OP used to enjoy seeing the stories his wife would post and the activities she was doing with their daughters. However, she has been obsessed with constantly posting pictures of her pregnant belly lately, and OP is fed up with it.
OP said when his wife posted one image of herself smiling, even her friends commented on how lovely she looked and were glad it wasn’t another picture of her belly. OP decided to talk to her and asked her to tone down posting photos of her belly since everyone knew she was pregnant. He would prefer she go back to doing what she used to post on her Instagram account.
Unfortunately, it became an argument, and OP’s wife became defensive. She said it’s her personal account and ‘don’t watch if you don’t like it’ and that he doesn’t know what it feels like. She is now angry and has stopped talking to OP.
OP says he understands that she is excited to be pregnant and is bored being out of work. However, he feels she needs to tone down her pictures and doesn’t want her posting their children’s faces all over social media.
The Readers Comment
Some readers were very candid that OP was wrong to criticize his wife about what she posts on Instagram.
“Not your belly. Not your Instagram.”
“For real? Lmao its HER instagram and HER baby belly. She’s only pregnant for so long let her enjoy it and post pictures. It’s nobody’s business if they consider it cringy/boring etc it’s hurting Noone.”
“I mean, as family and friends, you should probably suck it up and let the person do the harmless thing that makes them happy? It’s not like they’re getting stuck in a 30 minute conversation about her pregnancy every day, it’s photos that you can scroll past in less than a second.”
“Agreed! He wants her to change what makes her happy because he thinks it’s too much and boring. Let the woman do what she wants. It’s harmless and says more about the people being bothered by it than her. Criticizing what a pregnant woman posts on social media seems so petty and silly.
Some readers came to OP’s defense.
“He explained that he’s had to work a lot and is not home a good chunk of the week. He enjoys looking at her instagram to see what she’s been doing (not in a controlling manner) and what she’s been doing with their kids. He obviously wants to stay connected to them and instagram is how he does it. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t know his wife. I follow my kids on instagram to stay connected with them and see what’s going on in their lives. It doesn’t mean I don’t know them.”
“Sometimes people do things excessively without knowing it, just as sometimes people don’t know they have food in their teeth. As long you do it gently, telling them either isn’t criticizing them as a person.”
“That’s not what I read. The key word seems to be ‘marketing’ – a sense that he feels she’s exploiting their coming baby for likes. Have to admit I feel some sympathy with that. Sure, it’s her body, but it’s his child too.”
What do you think? Does he have a right to tell his wife to stop posting pictures of her pregnant belly on her personal Instagram account? Should she listen to him if he doesn’t want photos of their children’s faces posted all over social media?
This article was produced by This Mom is On Fire.
This post originally appeared on Reddit.
Feature image credit: © Syda Productions via Canva.