With fall in full swing, moms everywhere are searching for adorable ways to celebrate the season with their little ones. Some are braving the hell that is apple picking, and others are taking up more nontraditional fall activities. The #pumpkinbutt tag in Instagram has been filling up daily with adorable baby butts covered in artistic renditions of orange pumpkins. The photos are certainly adorable at first glance. But believe it or not, some parents are actually calling the trend dangerous.
The pumpkin-butt photo trend has been gaining tons of steam lately.
Hundreds of parents have taken to Instagram to post adorable photos of their little ones' bottoms covered in orange paint, meant to look like pumpkins. In the photos, many of the kids are running freely through pumpkin patches and others are just enjoying some naked time at home.
With the idea blowing up all over Pinterest, countless moms are eager to try it out themselves.
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But as with all things on the Internet, the trend has sparked plenty of debate.
Some moms, like Gina Fenton, don't view the trend as simply the fun, harmless activity it started out as. "My moral compass registers NO pretty much immediately," she said in a blog post about the trend on Sammiches and Psych Meds.
In her post, Fenton says she has no problem with moms taking adorable tushy pics or even letting their kids flourish in all of their naked joy in "family settings." Her biggest issue with #pumpkinbutt stems more from the lack of autonomy on the child's side and the concept of posting the photos online without the baby's permission.
And many moms agree with Fenton's point, arguing that parents are forcing children into these activities without their consent.
Others agree the pics are super cute but shouldn't be shared on social media.
And they still maintain that, if posted, the photos of the activity shouldn't be shared on public social media accounts where anyone can see them.
But not everyone understands what the big deal is.
Where some are making the social media trend out to be dangerous, others view it as harmless fun that makes for cute memories and a cool — if slightly hard to accomplish — photo op.
"If you don't agree with it, don't paint a pumpkin on your baby's ass," one mother wrote. "Problem solved."
Others told those who are against #pumpkinbutt to focus their energy on things that are "truly" harmful to children.
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It's no surprise that even something as innocent as #pumpkinbutt has sparked so much debate...
The Internet is chock-full of polarizing opinions, especially when it relates to children. Admittedly, photos of baby bottoms covered in paint for the world to see may embarrass your children in the future. But it's also likely that every photo, no matter how innocent, will do that.
If painting your baby's adorable little tushy seems like an appealing activity for you to do this fall, we're totally not going to judge you.
