"Proud parent"?

My brother asked, when he saw I had selected "Proud parent" from the list of MySpace profile options that indicate one's parenthood status, if "Ashamed parent" was among the other choices. It is not. These are your options:

• I don't want kids
• Someday
• Undecided
• Love kids, but not for me
• Proud parent
• No Answer

I find it telling that there are four ways, each with its own unique connotation, to say that you are not a parent, while the only way to say that you are a parent is positive in tone. Joel's joke was about someone who wasn't proud of his kids, but what about someone who is unhappy about parenthood? Or where's the option for those deadbeat dads? I guess they would select "No Answer."

But mostly this is another one of those cliches about parenthood that turned out to be true: I am embarrassingly proud of my son, and he doesn't even sit up yet.