Baby fetish land

One of the pervasive cultural elements of Indiana that I find irritating, and I think has links to the anti-abortion issue, is the baby fetish culture.  The public sharing of ultrasounds and gender reveal parties were obvious extensions.  To be honest, on my recent visit this wasn't in my face as much as the past, since my siblings have aged out of that phase.  However, I inherited a digital photo frame from my mother, and the number of baby photos in rotation made me want to throw the thing out the window.  If my mother were considered the first generation, we're midway through the flowering of the third; generations run shorter in baby fetish land.  To be honest, around the age of forty-five I was ready to invest in a mini-me project but timing and collaborators were not in sync.

Of course everyone thinks their baby is a miracle, and children should be embraced with a positive attitude.  That part is perfectly fine, and important for creating healthy adults.  Maybe the second clause of the previous sentence is where I veer into the sacrilegious?  Healthy adults?  While Margaret Atwood explored well the aspect of women as recipients and incubators, she didn't much illuminate the specter of a culture where the only and greatest role to which any adult should aspire is be "fruitful and multiply"; to spend all free hours either working to support or directly nurturing children.  In baby fetish land, there is no adult world, other than in service of offspring. It's a great place to raise kids - if you want them to grow up thinking the only purpose in life is procreating (or worshiping a god who admonishes you to either do so or remain celibate). 

I'm not *deleting* photos, however, the frame gives the option of hiding photos, and my first task has been hiding all the relatively unidentifiable, generic newborns.  I'm sure the parents could identify these peanuts, or potatoes, depending on birth weight.  I'm sure in the moment, my mother was happy for whomever; "Oh look! It's here! It's got five fingers, two eyes, a nose, and mouth - thank heavens."  As far as whose eyes, hair, nose, etc - maybe give it a year or so?  "Barbara had...10 grandchildren; 19 great-grandchildren; ... and several nieces and nephews"  We debated whether a few limbs on the tree, which were actually from neighboring trees, should be counted in this; and this doesn't include great nieces and nephews - enough to populate a small town. 

Believe me, I understand how much having children changes your life.  There are some aspects I'll never know, but my regrets are not massive.  My concerns are more about the warping of culture; where adults become slaves and childhood is the ideal; where expensive weddings are the fairy tale ending, and the mentality doesn't seem to grow much after high school.  My parents quickly pushed us into the realm of child labor; it was bible camp and flipping burgers - not space camp.  Because baby fetish land is all about keeping the working class hard at work.