Parents are up in arms over photos posted online

Dear Abby: My husband and I have a happy, adorable 18-month-old son. Understandably, he’s the light of our lives.

Early in my pregnancy, I decided to not post a pregnancy announcement or pictures of him on social media. During the past year, I have felt comfortable sharing about five pictures of him with my 40-plus close friends and family who follow that social media account.

My mother-in-law has been posting pictures of my son to her social media account for a while now. It bothered me, but I didn’t voice any concerns because I didn’t want to overreact. A few weeks ago, my husband texted her a picture of our son, himself and me. A few hours later, it ended up on her social media account with a filter altering the picture’s original color!

My husband and I became extremely upset about it, and my husband agreed to tell her that she could no longer share pictures of our son on social media. Is this appropriate? I firmly believe that my mother-in-law should have asked permission prior to sharing any pictures of our son. Am I correct? — New Mom in New York

Dear Mom: If you prefer she post no more pictures, ask her to stop and explain why. If it’s the fact that she took artistic license, I think you are overreacting and you should let it go.

Dear Abby: I am a 70-year-old widower. For the past year I’ve been dating a woman, “Celeste,” and our relationship was growing closer. Because she’s a big fan of a particular performer who was going to be in our area, I bought tickets for us two months in advance. They were quite expensive. Celeste knew about it and was eager to go.

On the day of the performance, when I went to pick her up, she informed me that she wouldn’t be able to go. A friend had just come into town and surprised her with a visit. She apologized and promised she’d explain later that weekend.

Well, the man turns out to be a former beau she hadn’t seen in about a year. Celeste seems to think I should be OK with her canceling our date, but I can’t help but feel she was wrong to do it so she could spend the weekend with a former lover. I ended the relationship over the brush-off she gave me, but she is trying to renew things. Was I wrong to take this as serious enough to end the relationship? — Perplexed Ex in Missouri

Dear Ex: You were not wrong. Celeste stood you up, which was, to say the least, inconsiderate of your feelings. When he called, she should have told him she had a previous commitment and honored it.