Is looking at baby pictures a form of objectification?

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Willing_Spirit

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Is it immoral for parents to look at baby pictures of their children just for the sake of thinking about how cute they were and missing when they looked that way? I think it could even be hurtful for kids to hear “look at how cute you were” and make them think as if they have disappointed their parents by growing.
 
I can’t imagine any problems with it. But what do I know. I’m sure some professor or psychologist with degrees hanging on the wall will find something wrong with it.
 
I think most parents are glad their babies don’t stay that way forever 🤔😶
And most grown children like to hear how cute they were .
 
Because it is a reflection on physical appearance. It is not really an expression of love for your children to dwell on how they used to look.
 
Willing_Spirit said:
Because it is a reflection on physical appearance. It is not really an expression of love for your children to dwell on how they used to look.
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You’re both over and underthinking this. The whole experience is remniscing about those times.
 
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Never heard of it happening before ,certainly not with my kids 🙂
I hope that wasn’t your experience growing up OP
God bless.
 
I hope this thread isn’t going to be derailed now. I made a new topic because I wanted to discuss the question in isolation. I no longer have interest in the context from which the question arised.
 
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The poster was asking very specific questions about his personal situation, but I’m trying to gain clarification on the subject of objectification.
 
Willing_Spirit said:
Because it is a reflection on physical appearance. It is not really an expression of love for your children to dwell on how they used to look.
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So, by that reasoning, family members are never allowed to comment on physical appearance?
A husband can’t tell his wife that he loves her cute little nose? A wife can’t compliment her husband on his beard or his muscles that he developed working out at the gym for a year?
A father can’t tell his daughter she looks lovely and grown-up when she appears in a new dress with her hair styled?

Or, if the problem is how a person looked in the past, then it’s not okay for a couple on their 25th anniversary to reminisce on how lovely they thought each other looked on their wedding day?

I think you’re being a bit overscrupulous here. If somebody is focusing on their child’s appearance all day or most of the time, then it’s a problem. Having a short happy memory of when your kids were little is not a problem. It’s normal human behavior.
 
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I think the original question is good from a philosophical point of view, and maybe religious as well. Aren’t there other religions that prohibit photographs? I don’t know if that is mere superstition, a legitimate concern for objectification, or something to do with idol worship.

Why do we keep photographs of persons?

All I know for sure is that companies like Eastman Kodak and Polaroid made fortunes off our desire to keep photographs. $ 😃
 
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Beryllos said:
Aren’t there other religions that prohibit photographs? I don’t know if that is mere superstition, a legitimate concern for objectification, or something to do with idol worship.
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The religions that prohibit photographs do so either because they believe the photograph steals part of their soul (Eastern religions) or because they think a photograph violates the Biblical prohibition on making “graven images” (Amish in USA). I’ve read that some Amish do not mind being photographed if their face is not shown; for the same reason they do not put faces on their children’s dolls, because they believe lack of a face keeps it from being a graven image.

I am not aware of any religions that prohibit photos based on concerns about objectification.
 
Well, the person is the same person at 20 as he was when he was a baby and even before then, so if someone says how cute he was as a baby, they are complimenting him.

But more than that, I think it is very good for 2 reasons: one is that the children get an idea of appreciating babies, which is not as much in evidence now as it used to be, and two, reminiscing helps cement relationships.
 
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