Castanet

See this photo? No it's not a reenactment of Hansel and Gretel, just one grandfather's idea of a practical joke, and whether it's funny or not has created a sharp division in the online community.



The photo, of a baby squirming in a baby-sized pan inside an oven, first appeared online on the website imgur.com, alongside the caption, "My first time leaving her, and Dad decides this is the picture to send."

Now, are you belly-laughing and clutching your sides, or gasping in horror and clutching your pearls? Commenters on the photo seem to fall into one of the two camps. On imgur.com, where the photo has more than a million views, the top rated comment is: ""I understand your concern; there's not nearly enough gravy on that child, plus there should be tinfoil to avoid burning the top," while on Reddit, "I'm guessing he's not a seasoned chef; he left the diaper on!" was followed immediately by, "helps contain the juices."

Others got literary about it, with comments like "I have a modest proposal for you," in reference to Jonathan Swift's satirical paper suggesting that the babies of poor people be cooked and eaten.

But others found the image less amusing. At the "married life" page on the online forum ProBoards, moms were not impressed.

"I know its harmless but that would freak me out. No bueno," wrote one mom, while another said "What's next, laying them down on a train track?"

Others were more pragmatic. One commenter thought it through thusly.

"I guess my question is... What's the real harm? The oven isn't on... There's no weird way the oven could accidentally turn on, the door shut by itself and the baby get locked in there. There's no potential harm in taking this pic."

This prank seems to have ended well, but for other parental pranksters, that's not the case.

Back in May of this year, the Daily Mail reported on a YouTube video (it has since been removed) of a couple putting their baby son inside a washing machine at a laundromat and closing the door, only to have it lock automatically and turn on. The couple can be seen growing increasingly hysterical as they struggle to open the door. Eventually the child is retrieved and, according to the YouTube poster, sustained only minor injuries. Hee-larious.

And just this past Saturday, Chicago area dad Andre Curry was convicted of aggravated domestic battery and aggregated battery, after he posted a photo of his 22-month-old baby bound with blue painter's tape at the ankles, wrists, and mouth accompanied by the caption, "This is wut happens wen my baby hits me back" and a winking emoticon. The judge said in his ruling that "To use a child...as a toy or a prop in an odd attempt at humor is conduct of an insulting or provoking nature."

Is grandpa's "baby in the oven" photo "conduct of an insulting or provoking nature"? Andre Curry could face seven years in prison, though he has no previous criminal record. Does grandpa deserve a similar fate?

Pretty funny.

I think it's pretty funny too. I wish I had thought of that earlier, I really have to wedge mine in the oven now and it ruins the whole effect.

oneh2obabe wrote:

The photo, of a baby squirming in a baby-sized pan inside an oven

One cannot deduce the baby is squirming in the photo.

I am appalled there are no vegetables visible in the picture.

One way to get out of being asked to babysit, especially if it's first-time parents.

Nebula wrote:One cannot deduce the baby is squirming in the photo.

I am appalled there are no vegetables visible in the picture.

I agree - I see no movement.

But I think that's a potato behind the kid's elbow, isn't it?

What do ya figger - cook the same length of time as a turkey?

grammafreddy wrote:
What do ya figger - cook the same length of time as a turkey?

Depends on whether it's stuffed or not!

I saw this before and thought it was funny in a macabre kind of way.

1/2 hr per pound at 350, use a lid so it bastes in its own juices, carrots and dill go nicely.
Try it with a fine chianti.

Urban Legend Come Alive: Mom Cooks Baby in Oven
May 19, 2011
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It sounds like the stuff of urban legend, but it's horrifically true: An Ohio woman killed her baby in a microwave oven after an argument with her boyfriend in 2005. China Arnold was convicted last week of aggravated murder in the death of her daughter Paris, who was not yet a month old when she died.

Assistant Prosecutor Dan Brandt told jurors that Arnold intentionally put her infant in the oven, shut the door, pushed the buttons, and watched the child cook for over two minutes. Arnold, who was inebriated at the time, claimed she killed her baby as revenge for her boyfriend's infidelity. This motive is chillingly common: Last month a woman drowned herself and three of her children in the Hudson river to get back at her ex-boyfriend, who she also believed had cheated on her.


Rumors and stories of cooked babies and pets have circulated for years. Many have heard the story of the kindly but doddering old lady who innocently wanted to dry off her poodle which had been caught in the rain. She unthinkingly dried it off in the microwave, with predictably disgusting results.


Though Arnold's actions resemble an urban legend, there are important differences. According to folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand in his Encyclopedia of Urban Legends, the story of the "baby roast" dates back decades, and is in fact "one of the most widely known and varied of all urban legends." In a typical telling of the story, "The horrible deed is done either by a family member or by a person hired to tend the baby in the parents' absence. In American versions, told since the 1970s, usually a teenage baby-sitter cooks the infant while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, sometimes reporting to the parents, ‘I've cooked the turkey for you.'"


Brunvand suggests that "possibly the American legends of cooked pets from the 1950s gave rise to later stories of cooked babies, although there were rumors reported as early as the 1920s of nannies using a whiff of stove gas to tranquilize babies before bedtime." Brunvand notes that this urban legend is especially resonant with parents because it "seems to confirm the worst fears of young parents-that their child will not be safe outside of their loving care."


China Arnold's crime does not make the "baby roast" urban legend true. The fact that an element in an urban legend story is enacted does not mean that it's not a myth-Just as finding (or putting) an alligator in a New York City sewer does not mean that decades of stories about giant alligators in sewers must be true.
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This picture immediately brought me back to the 70's when the story came out that a babysitter cooked a baby in the oven, thinking it was a turkey, while stoned out of her mind.
Urban legend no less.
The 4th paragrah talks about it.

I know its a joke ,but I did not feel comfortable looking at it. Not making a judgement, just sayin.

I'm sure there are bunch of uptight people with nothing else going on in their life so they focus their energy on getting upset over slightest blimp out of normality and would devour this picture with their cries over humanity and upsetting standards of morale these days. Some recent moms with redlining mom instincts would sure say something about it - after all they feel the need to speak for all children, not just the ugly brats that came out of their fun area. Same moms that ruined "Kick the baby" game for all kids out there.

what a dirty oven.
In a few years the baby will be hiding grandpa's dentures

normaM wrote:what a dirty oven.

lol That's the first thing I thought.

The world seems to have too many constipated self-righteous watch dogs out there. It's cute, especially when thinking of it in context of grandpa babysitting....what would have been even funnier, is if he had taken a shot of himself holding a turkey and trying to give it a bottle, while baby was in the roaster.

True, saw the picture and could see my dad doing the same.