DEAR MISS MANNERS: What is the proper etiquette for announcing a pregnancy to extended friends and family?
I am expecting a baby shortly and have not announced anything about my pregnancy via social media and have no intent to. The result is, only friends that I keep in contact with frequently or see in person, and immediate family, know that I am pregnant.
I was fine with this, and intended to send out a birth announcement to extended family once my child was born. However, it seems that every time someone I'm not close to finds out I'm having a baby in a few short months, they act offended that I hadn't told them sooner.
So I'm wondering, was I supposed to mass-announce my pregnancy? Or is it OK to keep things like that private, simply for the reason that you don't feel like broadcasting it via social media?
GENTLE READER: There are sensible reasons for not advertising a pregnancy -- from the possibility that something might go wrong, to the hope of avoiding hearing everyone else's grisly birth stories.
But beyond that, Miss Manners encourages you to resist the notion that you are obliged to make your life public. Traditionally, births, marriages and deaths were formally announced to one's circle of acquaintance. The rest was, and is, discretionary.