The majority of us are able to poke fun at our parenting dilemmas, and while we might joke that we’re fit to strangle our kids some days, we never actually mean it!
Joking about children on social media is a dangerous game however, as US mum Alex McDaniel has learned this month.
After jokingly tweeting about selling her three-year-old son, Alex found herself in the middle of an investigation by child protective services.
Alex is a well-known journalist, and she has always shared hilarious insights into her family life on social media.
Earlier this month, she shared an exchange she had with her toddler son. At the end of it, she joked, “3-year-old for sale, $12 or best offer”.
Twitter hit a new low for me this week and I'm not about to stay silent about it. Here's why. pic.twitter.com/PkknLD3WV1
— Alex McDaniel (@AlexMcDaniel) October 2, 2017
It was all fun and games for Alex and her followers – until, that is, two members of the county’s child protective services showed up at her office.
Alex was told that, thanks to an ‘anonymous tipster’, she was now ‘the subject of a human trafficking investigation’ – and all because of that tweet.
In an article entitled ‘Parenting in The Age of Social Media: Pretend Everything Is Fine and Don’t You Dare Use Humour to Cope With How Tough It Is’, Alex opened up about the ‘ludicrous’ but terrifying experience.
“While it’s laughable now, at the time it was anything but,” she admitted.
“CPS wanted to come into my home to inspect it, and to do further interviews with my son and me, to determine if there was evidence of abuse.”
There is no way that Alex could have predicted the turn of events when she hit ‘tweet’ on her 140-character social post.
As shocked as Alex was, she has nothing but respect for those investigating her.
“Let me say right now; CPS is a fantastic, hardworking agency saving kids’ lives in this state in more ways than one,” she clarified.
“It would be easy for some to read this and assume I’m upset with them, which isn’t the case.
“In CPS investigations, suspects are guilty until proven innocent – I get it.”
So, what happened next for Alex?
As a parent 1. Thanks for your honesty before now and now 2. You've always seemed like an incredible Mom 3. This decision is in line with that, too. Stay awesome, Alex.
— Jerry Hinnen (@JerryHinnen) October 2, 2017
That being said, please continue sharing on private social medias. I enjoy the saga. Don’t let the dark work extinguish a ray of happiness.
— Scapegoat Bananas (@geauxcrimson) October 2, 2017
What in the world?!?!? Anyone who knows/follows you knows how much you adore your munchkin. I’m sorry you had to deal with this
— Amara (@AmaraBaptist) October 2, 2017
“Long story short, I worked with my outstanding attorney, and the investigation was closed in a matter of days due to the fact there was zero evidence that I was trying to sell my son for $12 on Twitter,” she added.
“However, the fact that anyone who presumably follows me and keeps up with my parenting vignettes would report me to CPS is not only stunning – it’s concerning.”
As for who it might be, Alex has an inkling that it may be someone targeting her work as a journalist.
No matter who it was, or why they chose to report her, Alex has learned a valuable lesson from the experience: some things should not be broadcast across social media.
While she’s not going to ‘pretend she’s not a mother’, she has decided that it’s not worth it to ‘expose her son to the same asinine social media bulls**t she chose to endure as a career path’.
“My family is the only thing in the world I can protect. And I’m not here to hurt them for a few retweets,” she wrote.
What are your thoughts, mums?
