Fun & Famous

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOUR (IN-LAW)PARENTS ALSO GO SOCIAL

Oh, this is such a delightful topic. Drop it at a boring gathering and the anecdotes will fly around you. Here at the editorial office, the stories about parents on social media are also quite something. Here they come. By the way, we all find our parents very dear. They are all oh so precious to us. So no bad words, okay, no bad words.

1. I won't name names, but one of us has a mother who consistently comments under EVERY photo in EVERY photo album.

2. I won't name names again, but one of our other editors has a mother-in-law who can't handle the green ‘who is online’ dots on Facebook. There was once a family dispute brewing when she suddenly saw that her daughter-in-law went offline (from Facebook) when she came online. Mm.

3. Why don't parents and in-laws and grandparents understand that everyone can read along? Pet names are therefore a no-go. Just like sharing very personal information. I know a story of someone who worked at an insurance company. She was completely done with it. At the farewell gathering, a photo was taken that ended up on Facebook. And what did mom write under the photo? ‘How wonderful for you, finally gone!’

4. Also not done: critical remarks about the people in the photo itself. I know a story of someone who was working intensively with a well-known Dutch presenter at that time. She happily posted a photo on FB, but what did her eye see? A comment from her mother-in-law. ‘You're not working for that terrible jerk, are you?’ Okeeeeee. Where do we start explaining that this is not okay? Black-out, really.

”She also regularly comments on the posts of the editor in question: ‘What a beautiful photo. Kiss from your mother.’”

5. There is an editor here who has a mother on Instagram. She has two followers (the editor in question and her sister). Well. That is of course already funny in principle, but she also regularly comments on the posts of the editor in question: ‘What a beautiful photo. Kiss from your mother.’ And the editor in question finds that a bit less funny. But still cute, you know. Also cute.

6. There is an editor here who has a mother who shares everything that the concerned editor posts on her timeline. But really everything. It's not necessary, let's say.

7. There is also someone here with a pet (is it a dog, is it a cat? The concerned pet wants to remain anonymous). But back to the anecdote: the mother of this editor writes under every photo of the concerned pet: proud grandma!

8. We are also teased here by totally incomprehensible WhatsApp messages. Take this: you casually invite someone via the app for your birthday and then your father-in-law responds with some kind of inside joke that you just have to study for three hours: is the best man coming or is the best man not coming? And then you don't dare to text back.