Do you post pic of your children's faces online / judge people who do / don't and why ?

I don't post pictures of my children, husband or myself on social media. I don't even have social media never found it appealing but have never judged others who did as I just never really thought much about it. However at my DCs's school recently they shared this video and changed forever how I feel about it. Won't give my opinion but do watch just food for thought at the very least.

I can sort of understand people who used to post pics of kids when FB was a shiny new toy but I really can't understand anyone who does it now. We know so much more about the dangers of the world. We also (or at least we should) know that children have as much right to consent as adults. We should have moved on. You're creating a digital footprint that can never be erased for basically your own vanity project/gratification.

I do on FB maybe twice or three times a year. My FB is pretty locked down and I don’t have many friends on there - I only friend family or actual friends so I don’t have five hundred people on there when can see my pictures. I don’t on instagram because I don’t have the account locked down.

I don't judge people who post pictures of their kids more regularly but I do think you should respect their privacy - so no pictures that are going to be really embarrassing for them, nothing revealing, no posts that are personal. I know someone who regularly posts pictures of her daughter that, while innocent, could be taken as inappropriate, and she also reveals so much about her child’s life and inner feelings etc on FB. She posted an image of her child after a bath a couple of years that instagram actually took down. The child was only six or seven at the time and it was nothing you wouldn’t see on a beach or swimming pool but still.

We post and DS has a YouTube gaming channel which he wears a mask on. I always think blackmail is likely to happen between friends who have camera phones so can snap a picture anyway. We raised DS that what's online isn't the end of the world look at the many social media stars who have posted actual naked pictures. He's to tell us if anything happens and we will help him deal with it.

I always feel sorry for the kids not allowed to be in school posts etc our kids always look at the school posts to see if they have been picture and are excited when they are.

I post pictures on my private Facebook and Instagram. They are both locked and I know all the people on there.
I don’t post often. A few snaps of holidays, birthdays etc. We have family and friends overseas and they like to see pictures of the kids and hear about what they are doing. Too many to be able to contact each person individually.
I have a few friends who only posted the backs of the children’s heads etc when they were younger and now post full pictures of their faces. I wonder what changed in their minds

I was wondering if I was being OTT, but as part of the same radio programme, there was a mum who's 16 year old son had killed himself on Christmas day because he was being blackmailed and was too scared to tell his parents ( because what teenager wants to tell their mum that they have naked pictures of themselves all over the internet?) so I thought better safe than sorry. It s just a small thing really. I have a 16 year old and it was horrifying listening to that poor woman's story.

I used to when my kids were little and Facebook was a new thing. I deleted my FB 10 years ago and am no longer on social media, but if I were I wouldn’t post pics now, no. It doesn’t feel safe or appropriate anymore.

I don’t ‘judge’ people who do, but I don’t think people necessarily think it through. You’re creating a digital footprint for your child that they can’t consent to, for one thing.

I also don’t feel comfortable with sharing my own image or details of my life on SM, so wouldn’t do it for my kids. I value our privacy.

With us it has always been a consent thing. My daughters have grown up through the proliferation of social media with we parents who have/used to work in IT. I do not like having my pic everywhere either, so always ask them if they'll send a pic to their Gran etc, rather than posting on Facebook etc where others screenshot and share any bit of crap going..

I used to post pics of my child on my private Facebook & Instagram fairly regularly. I've become more aware of the dangers and potential consequences now so I stopped. I've now deleted my FB/Instagram anyway. I've asked family to not post pics of him either and they have stopped too.

I don't judge those that do on private accounts as long as they are mindful about what they do post/ and do make some effort to protect their children's privacy and dignity.

However, I do judge 'influencers' who happily exploit their kids for views/money etc and share all the details of their lives. I used to follow some accounts on Instagram where followers knew the kids full names, date of birth, where they went to school etc. To me that's reckless and unnecessary.

I post pics of my kids

When you ask this question you get a lot of replies from people who don't post photos of their kids. I don't think it shows an accurate picture of how many do. Out of all my friends on social media 99% do share photos of their children. However, the vast majority have private accounts and only share the occasional photo, which in my opinion is fine.
I only have one friend who bombard us with photos abd videos of her DD. I do think it's excessive.

I don’t have instagram.
I have fb with a smallish number of people I know well - family, close friends. It’s set so that only people I’m immediately friends with can see anything or pics I post, not friends of friends. I do put some pics of the kids on there - usually family pics of days out, or an occasional bday party (though I don’t put pics with other peoples kids in). So I do know anything that goes online is a bit out of my hands but it would have to be via one of my friends deliberately sharing a pic on purpose and I don’t see that as a big risk given my network.

All parents in the UK with older children in secondary school( I think) recently got a letter from the National crime Agency about sexploitation. Its not just about young children. Older children are vulnerable to having their pictures taken off websites and used for blackmail purposes. When I was listening to the radio about this, someone from the NCA said that these are sometimes through deepfakes, so they could take a head off the internet, superimpose it and use it to blackmail teenagers. I do have pictures online of my children, but have my privacy settings set to private. DH didn't, despite working in IT. One of my DS's friends found a picture of him and made a 'joke' poster of him. I was shocked that his friend could just google and access DH's facebook. We both tore a strip off him, so he now has beefed up security settings. I like seeing what my friends and family who live far away are doing, and they like seeing what my kids are up to, but I'm hoping the strong privacy settings stops them from being accessed publicly. I have googled all of us since, and we arent visible on google.

No, I am very private on SM. I post like, twice a year and it's never personal stuff.

I have been really surprised by people posting on FB etc like it's their personal diary. I mean, if it helps them great, but I cant imagine anything worse than posting every deep thought I have about really personal issues being out there for everyone to gawp at. I cannot relate to that at all, it seems so intrusive.

I don't and never will post anything about dc online. Name, pictures or latest milestone reached. Anyone who's close enough to us to be trusted knows these things anyway and the rest are just old connections who don't need to know. I'd rather spend the time living life and enjoying the here and now than crafting posed pictures and status updates.

I never have and I never will. I share photos in a private WA group. I don't even post pix of my husband. My private life stays private.

I don’t put anything on Facebook, my children are 4 and 7 and there is nothing of them on there.

On Instagram I have a couple of pictures of them. But my account is private and I have a grand total of about 35 followers. All friends.

I hate the thought of strangers or a bloke I worked with 20 years ago looking at them.

DC are young adults now, but, no I didn't. When they were old enough (6-7ish) I asked them and they said no and didn't change that stance. Although I'm sure they'd be OK now, just haven't asked. Family have posted big groups over the years in which they were included which didn't bother me or them seemingly.

Don't judge others that do* - think it will become more normal as time goes on.

*actually someone put a photo of her two young boys (around 4-5ish) in the bath on my old school FB group (100+) and I did judge a little bit! They were standing in positions with bubbles on them so you couldn't see their willies but you could see they were very much naked. Sad to think that ithese nnocent photos could be viewed by some very differently, but that's the world we live in and it made me feel uncomfortable.

@DramaLlamaBangBang Ah thats the same as at nursery then - we've made sure she never features on any social media, local newspapers, their own marketing etc. Glad to know it's the same with school!

I don't post pictures of my children. They can't consent. When older, they may want a private life or a very public one and it's up to them what pictures they choose to show.

I also worry that baddies could get info from the pictures and recognise my kids and say "oh hello, I'm friends with Breaking, come and get in my van and see my puppies and sweets"

I occasionally posts pictures of my kids if its their birthday and its a family photo etc but I dont do it regularly and my SM settings are set to private and I dont friend people I dont personally know.

I have been quite shocked seeing people with public profiles posting constant pics of their kids in the bath or in other potentially vulnerable scenarios etc I dont judge them as in "they're terrible parents" but I do think its incredibly unwise and it surprises me they seem so laissez faire about it.

My kids are regularly on my private Facebook, but all my friends are people I actually know. If I had an insta with "followers" I didn't know, or if I were an influencer with 1000s of followers, that would be different.

I rarely post on social media. Maybe 4 times a year I'll share a couple of family holiday photos or birthday celebration photos and will include photos of my children. With the exception of one friend, everyone I know shares photos of their children occasionally.
I personally am not worried. I only have friends and family on Facebook. No strangers can see my photos.