to feel sorry for the dc of parents who post daily pictures and 'anecdotes' about them on Facebook

[VioletBrogues]

I know I would have been mortified to discover that a significant part of my childhood had been shared with hundreds of 'friends'.

The odd picture and newsy stuff every so often is okay, but I have friends who post pictures almost daily of potty training, sick children, tantrums, conversations their children have, funny little mistakes they make and well every tiny detail really.

Its your choice if you choose to share your life in this way. But the lack of respect of the privacy of a child who is too young to choose makes me feel very uncomfortable.

Why would anyone care? What effect does it have on life now if our parents had shared all that rubbish? Genuine question.

I think you have raised a good point op, its a bit like Katie Price sellling her DC lives on TV.

facebook is open to lots of acquaintances and so on.

Do you not think that parents shared this info with their friend's before?

Really? I wouldn't care a bit.

Why would you? People have been sharing baby snaps for generations. My mother had billions of embarrassing ones. I was a baby, I don't care at all.

When they are old enough to look will they be able to trawl that far back? Will FB even exist by then-I think the novelty is wearing off even now.

I agree, I very rarely post dc on Facebook, only with faces obscured. (Looking other way etc not blurred out!)
And I wouldn't want people to know my toilet habits so why would I post someone else's.

Yes, YABU.

I can't see what harm it could possibly cause the children involved, other than some mild embarrassment in years to come. In a way, it's like building a memory bank.

It's entirely up to people what they post on their own Facebook profiles.

Rushii I guess I just value privacy and think everyone is entitled to it, unless they choose not to, children included.

Agreed. I'm not on fb anymore but when I was I didn't even put pics of ds on my rl friends i would send nice pics from time to time, but I can't genuinely say fb 'friends' are friends.

Personally, my mum died when I was little. If there was an online repository of my life as a baby or toddler/small child, with her thoughts and comments - well I would be overcome with joy, tbh.

My parents may have shared a few baby snaps with a few friends. Not hundreds with hundreds of people.

I share pictures. Baby pictures. Can't see the problem at all.

I quite like it. Unless your Facebook privacy settings are so lax that everyone and their dog can see your pictures, it's not really any different to a photo album you share around.

I used to think this. But realised the majority of my friends do it for family members who live quite a distance from them i.e. overseas or a least a 2 day camel ride away. So it's lovely that they get to see the children's achievements. OK so maybe potty training in minute detail is a bit OTT

Yet again, this comes down to WHO you have as FB friends. I don't have hundreds of acquaintances. I have my family and RL friends. Ones who like to share updates on what we are all getting up to.

YANBU.

I recently went to a talk at our DC school about helping them keep safe online. Later at home, DD (7) pointed out that we put photos of them on our FB without getting their permission (they're too young to be on FB themselves) and that we shouldn't be doing that. She was right, so now I run photos by them first.

I've always been conscious not to put up photos that they wouldn't want to be tagged in, but now they're getting older they are entitled to a say in what goes public about them so I respect that.

Portofino, a lovely sentiment.

Well, I hope you don't ever show anyone pictures of your children or talk about them EVER, OP. That would be totally taking away their privacy.

Actually you probably don't know if you would be mortified or not as you have not grown up digitally native i.e. born after the rise of the internet. The fact is that children born now will to a greater or lesser extent live a part of their lives online - it will be 'normal' to them.

I appreciate that some people probably go a bit OTT but i think it looks and feels much worse to older generations who didn't grow up in this kind of environment.

YANBU, there is sharing & then there's over sharing.

Oh, and i include myself in the older generations comment!

There is a big difference between reporting the tantrum of a 3 year and posting something really personal about a 13 year old.

Exactly what flash said.

I have about number 100 friends on Facebook, they are people i speak to in rl, my family and friends. I'm selective about people on there and what I share. I think people make a big deal about it. If you don't like what you're reading, block or hide the person