海角大神

Two weeks ago Greg Pembroke, a dad of two boys in Rochester, NY, posted a series of photos of his sons on a Tumblr titled 鈥淩easons my son is crying鈥� that has since gone viral. Mr. Pembroke found that instant fame is a greater strain than parenting through a toddler meltdown. He tells 海角大神 he may have also stumbled upon a cure for the toddler meltdown: Take a picture and show it to your child.

鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 looking for a solution and people offering advice and armchair diagnosis should know I also wasn鈥檛 looking for a cure,鈥� Pembroke told me today. 鈥淏ut I accidentally found that just by taking a picture it usually ends the meltdown because the kids love to see themselves and it distract them and the storm ends.鈥�

Pembroke, who writes commercials for Stephens Media Group radio station, and his wife have two boys William, 3, and Charlie, 21-months. And as any parent might do, he began documenting the commonplace聽meltdowns two weeks ago in pictures which he posted along with witty captions to his Facebook.聽One caption of a weeping Charlie reads, 鈥淗e鈥檚 crying because I wouldn鈥檛 let him drown in this pond,鈥� while another documents the moment he wept 鈥渂ecause the milk isn鈥檛 juice.鈥澛犅�

Pembroke said his friends wanted more photos, but no one wants to be the parent聽over-sharing聽on Facebook so Pembroke looked for another venue to post the photos and a friend suggested Tumblr. He thought the move would actually decrease visibility.聽

鈥淚 really wasn鈥檛 looking for any of this,鈥� Pembroke said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just completely bizarre. I want everyone to know they can stop diagnosing the boys now, they鈥檙e fine. Charlie鈥檚 not autistic, there鈥檚 no weird food allergy causing their noses to run. Oh, and no, William鈥檚 not dehydrated and that鈥檚 not what鈥檚 causing him to cry. Wow! They鈥檙e just normal kids crying over normal things.鈥�

Pembroke says he can鈥檛 wait for the spotlight to turn away from his family because, frankly, he鈥檚 feeling a bit fried by the unsolicited advice many have posted on various message boards as a result of the photos of his children which, admittedly, are all crying shots.聽While he appreciates the fact that he struck America鈥檚 funny bone, he would like people to stop backseat parenting his boys.

鈥淭hey don鈥檛 cry all the time or have tantrums like some people think,鈥� Pembroke explained. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e 10 second fits of frustration that I just snap a picture of and then they鈥檙e back to all smiles.鈥�

Pembroke also said his visit to Good Morning America with the boys (where he was chagrined to be met on camera by an expert billed as The Baby Whisperer) was not about fame, but a free mini vacation. 鈥淸GMA] offered to fly us to New York City, and the boys love planes. They offered to put us up in a hotel, and the boys really love hotels. So we went, but that鈥檚 IT! No more.鈥�

On a happy note, this dad was inspired by a site that also inspires me in many ways, Humans of New York (HONY), a photo and caption website by聽Brandon Stanton.聽Mr. Stanton has walked the streets of New York every day since September 2010, making portraits of strangers with a goal to create a photographic census of the city with 10,000 photos on an interactive online map.

鈥淚 was inspired by HONY,鈥� Pembroke explained. 鈥淚鈥檝e been on it every day for over a year and it鈥檚 just so beautiful. Just taking shots of regular people with a quick witty, or inspiring caption. 鈥�

Pembroke said the best thing that came out of his family鈥檚 instant fame was the fact that when he reached out to Stanton while in NY for a visit with Good Morning America, Stanton shot a picture of Charlie this week. Yes, the child was crying. The picture, of course, made it onto the Pembroke Tumblr feed.

鈥淭he boy (Charlie) was completely normal and laughed far more than he cried, but when he did cry, Dad would quite secretly snap a quick shot,鈥� Stanton wrote in an e-mail this morning. 鈥淭hey were very down-to-earth parents, and definitely not interested in being famous. A small page they made for friends went viral, and now they're ready to get back to normal. All around good people.鈥�

Unfortunately, Stanton isn鈥檛 getting the kind of viral traction as Pembroke who, after just a week and 600,000 Tumblr views, is all over the news. 聽

鈥淧lease stress that this was all an accident. I was just taking pictures of my kids and ... do people really look for this to happen like this?鈥� Pembroke said. 鈥淚 wish everyone would shift their focus to HONY and just forget me.鈥�