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First time mommy attacked by Facebook ‘friends’ for oversharing of baby pics and posts
Jade Ruthven, 33, a first-time Australian mother, attacked over her constant Facebook posts on her baby in an anonymous letter
Proud new parents boasting about their little one’s every move, posting endless pictures and updating you on their minute to minute activity is a common occurrence on Facebook. Most of us ignore it as we realize that being new parents is a very exciting feeling.
However, one Australian woman got so tired of her friend’s constant posts and updates about her baby daughter that she wrote her a sarcastic letter demanding the mother to stop as she is annoying a lot of people.
Jade Ruthven, 33, a first-time mother from Perth, said she is not aware as to who has written the anonymous letter. Mrs Ruthven, a dental hygienist, said she was upset by the “nasty” letter but decided to publish it rather than give in and remove herself from Facebook. Later, she and her husband forwarded the letter to a local comedian, who shared it on social media and it quickly went viral.
The unimaginable printed letter, filled with expletives and exclamation marks, starts with the anonymous author saying they had got together with ‘a few of the girls’ to say they are “SO OVER” the running commentary of Jude’s life with her young baby daughter Addison.
“Look we all have kids that we are besotted with – guess what – every parent thinks their child is the best,” the letter says.
“But we don’t ram it down everyone else’s neck!!! She wears a new outfit – well take a photo and send it PRIVATELY to the person who gave it to her – not to everyone!!! She crawls off the mat – we DON’T care!!!!! She’s 6 months old – BIG DEAL!!!”
“We can’t wait for you to get back to work – maybe you won’t have time to be on Facebook quite so much.”
“Not everyone is as interested as you are about what Addy does so give us all a break,” the letter says.
“We’re doing this to let you know what people really think.”
Jade told Mail Online that “At first I was in shock and thought this letter must be a joke. I read it and reread it about four times.”
“I was shaking with anger and shock to think a so called friend of mine could be so heartless and gutless to not even sign their name … Being a first time mum is hard enough to get your head around but for someone who was feeling alone or who was struggling with the challenges of motherhood this could have had terrible consequences.”
Ms Ruthven is still not clear which friends are responsible, but she insists the letter has backfired, if it the attempt was to shame and isolate her, as she is “feeling more loved and supported than ever”.
“These people clearly have too much time on their hands to sit and chat about my Facebook usage. It’s quite sad really.”
“The support I have received from family, friends and even total strangers has blown me away.”
She added: “It takes a lot more to keep me down than a nasty letter!”
Comedian Em Rusciano wrote an 870-word opinionated article about the letter for Australian website news.com.au, after Jade sent it to her through Facebook.
Kerri Sackville, a commentator on the Essential Baby website, said endless Facebook posts by someone can be annoying but their friends should turn off the stream using the “mute” option.
“Posting a lot of baby photos doesn’t make you a bad person,” she wrote.
“It may make your Facebook feed a little irritating, but it doesn’t make you a bad person.”