People posting picture of their ill children

[Notsowifeymaterial]

So normally when I'm browsing on fb and see someone's posted a picture of their child on the sofa or in bed captioned aw my poorly baby 😢 I usually ignore it or if it's a friend I'll comment hope they feel better soon etc.
But yesterday someone on my friends list posted a picture of their child actually on a stretcher in the back of an ambulance captioned poor baby off to hospital. He's struggling to breathe.
I was imaging the scenario as this..
Paramedic - right ok we need to get this child to the hospital right now. Mum are you ready?
Mum - hang on can you just step back a sec whilst I take a photo.
Paramedic - umm.....
Mum - ok I'll just take one more so I can see which is best, ok got it. Hmm should I apply a filter. Which one will get me more likes do you think? shows paramedic the photos
Paramedic - um I'm sorry miss but we do really need to get to the hospital?
Mum - right of course. Let's go. Does the ambulance have wifi so I can post it on Facebook?
paramedic internally facepalms
BTW the child ended up being fine and is now home.
Aibu to think that that's just inappropriate for a mother to do?

Ok maybe the scenario was ott. I knew before I posted the child was home and fine so it was just my inappropriate humour. (One of my many "qualities)
I do not think she is a bad parent. I just find it strange that she would do that instead of just getting to the hospital to make sure he was ok

Oh FFS, you weren't there you don't know the context of the situation she may have been trying to make light of things.

I'm an HCP who was posing for photos with a teenage patient last week (despite hating having my picture taken).

I was happy to oblige for the patient and her mother. I didn't think badly of the mother, I thought it was a good way of distracting her terrified teen who ending up laughing her head off after posting her pictures having been shaking with fear previously.

I do not think she is a bad parent. I just find it strange that she would do that instead of just getting to the hospital to make sure he was ok

The most likely thing is that she already knew he was ok, as the paramedics had said so.
No need to blow it up into something it clearly isn't, just so you can complain about it.

My dd has twice been in a blue light ambulance and taking a pic was last thing on my mind!

YANBU it's twatty and attention seeking.

I agree with you. Some people are quite attention seeking and feel the need to document every aspect of their lives.

What a load of miserable posts. You know what, if your child is very ill then it's actually really nice to get online support from friends. I had a seriously ill child for months and Facebook was a lifeline - I didn't have the energy or emotional strength to ring people, or the time to see people in person. So shoot me, I posted updates on Facebook because i needed the support, and to log on after posting to find 50+ supportive messages was a highlight during a very dark time. How did people cope before social media in that kind of situation? Actually maybe they didn't, maybe they just felt isolated and alone, and their friends had no idea how to help because they didn't know what was going on.

As for the ambulance, you have NO idea of the situation. The suggestion that the parent in question was impeding emergency care is actually pretty revolting - why on earth would you assume that, rather that there was some hanging around involved and therefore time to tell friends what was going on? I bloody hope some people did offer support, babysitting etc. That's what friends do in emergency situations, when - amazing though it may seem - you might not have the time to get your fountain pen out and pen a 5 page letter then give it to a passing horse and carriage. The weird luddite smug self-righteousness on this thread is vile.

I did take a pic of my dd wearing a neck brace but it was whilst we were waiting and so I could let relatives know. We were worried she'd broken her neck and didn't want to have to explain. It wasn't quite jostling the paramedic though!

I had a 5 day stay in hospital with my dd2, and Facebook was my absolute life line, the only thing that kept me sane. Yes we did take an 'ambulance selfie' no DD didn't particularly give permission, yes i was terrified out of my mind and just needed people to know i was scared and worried and needed support in that moment.

Dd2 also went to an SEN nursery (she's now in mainstream) but i have many of her friends D's parents on Facebook and am always seek pics of operations, hospital stays, drs appointments, one mother even posted her son's first dentist visit. This particular mother was told he wouldn't make it past 6 months old if she was lucky, he's now 2, so if she wants to post all the photos, as far as I'm concerned she bloody well can.

Op as far as your op goes, i was asked to stand back until they had got DD onto the ambulance safely. I was stood there for ever 2 minutes, but it was long, scary and I can imagine someone whipping their phone out to distract themselves. In that moment, I personally didn't know what to do, think or say, whilst on the ambulance i was just answering the paramedics questions and staying out of their way while they did their job.
I've also 'checked in to' a hospital whilst being on my way home from that hospital giving an update as people knew about the checkup and wanted an update. For me fb is a quick and easy way to connect with family, I have around 200 friends on there and would consider them all friends.

I used to have a friend who always took pictures of her ds in hospital looking sad for Facebook.
She would even be doing it while the doctor was trying to speak to her about him actually just like the senario in the op.

She also used to take him to the park to pose for photos but not actually let him play.

I do know what it feels like I have been in intensive care twice with my 2 children which has involved staying for weeks - I still found more productive & helpful & helathier things to do with my time rather than being an amateur social media news broadcast!

There do appear to be 2 issues here: focusing on taking photos and 'how it all affects you' rather than caring for your child, and thinking about your child's right to privacy.

We spoke to both our kids about never taking photos of friends and posting without their consent - particularly if they were clowning around and might be left feeling embarrassed later. Unfortunately those pics that are cute at 4 could be acutely embarrassing for your 15 year old DS.

In the future all your internet history will be trawled by prospective employers, prospective in-laws, insurers etc. It's already happening. You must assume that anything you post is ultimately in the public domain, whatever your privacy settings.

I post a lot on Facebook so would probably annoy quite a few people on here. But, I think it's the way things are posted that can get really annoying. Yes. Let people know your child is unwell and going to hospital but I think a picture is inappropriate. It's like when people direct messages to their children who obviously don't have s Facebook account 'happy 1st birthday (insert child's name) erm... I'm pretty sure they're not reading that

I post a lot on Facebook but I'm currently in hospital with DD and haven't posted about that at all publicly as I don't want to at the moment. If it was about me I'd post in a flash for the sympathy (attention seeking yes!) but this DDs story and she's old enough to have an opinion on it. I only took photos yesterday evening when she started to feel a bit better- she hadn't wanted me to before. But I think support given through Facebook in scary situations is invaluable. Freind who had baby in NICE said it was so helpful when people posted support when she updated her babies progress.

Me neither NotCaryl. I get people dont like fb, which is fine, dont use it them. But its the people who do use it and then bitch about what other people post accusing them usually of attention seeking or child rights violators etc. Tbf I only know of two people in rl that act like this and they are both self righteous knobs of the highest order that i try my best to 'unfollow' in rl. Although one pre child gave all the spiel about her and no one else posting any pics of her child on fb for a whole variety of stupid reasons (no one cared, post or dont post, just dont make a fucking song and dance about it) yet have definitely seen a few of then on fb. The hypocrisy!

I love FB but I'm not going to pretend that the only people I have on it are my close friends and family. I have old school friends, my Pilates instructor, a few former and one or two current colleagues, a couple of people I only got to know online through a shared interest with whom I co-admin an FB page etc. I doubt - in fact I know that I'm not alone in that. That's why I do think carefully about what I post, in a "would I be happy for this to get back to my boss?" way, and I have a couple of restricted/secret groups made up of a small number of close friends.

That's not to say I think I have the right to say what other people should and shouldn't post, but to think that you're only sharing something with friends with whom you're close enough to have lunch with is, in a lot of people's cases, naive. A lot of people don't manage or control their Facebook account settings to anything like the extent to which it's possible so everything they post is seen by everyone they're FB friends with, no matter how tenuous that initial connection was.

I have around 200 friends on there and would consider them all friends

I have 200 friends on there and 150 of them I haven't seen in real life in two years (or longer).

My son was rushed to hospital struggling to breathe last year and a photo was the last thing on my mind. I do worry for any future grandchildren tho. 2 yrs previously he split his forehead open at Grandad's and in the time it took my df to get first aid kit ds had taken some gruesome selfies. Didn't show us until after he was on way out of minor injuries "mum will I forward you my selfies so you can post them?" No DS really NO

Elspeth, i have a really big family! My mum is one of 11 Children and we have regular family gatherings, that side alone is 90 people. Add on my dad's side who I'm also close to and your already looking at 120 family members on Facebook. So yes, 200 people who i know, see regularly and are friends :)

In the future all your internet history will be trawled by prospective employers, prospective in-laws, insurers etc. It's already happening. You must assume that anything you post is ultimately in the public domain, whatever your privacy settings

This is such rubbish though. There are some pics of my kids on my FB, viewable to my friends list, which is small. Now, I know my children are utterly fascinating to me, but I don't think its very likely (though not impossible)that anyone is taking the time to download those photos and then reupload them in the public domain, alongside their full names and identifying details.

And I'd love to know not only how future employers etc will be accessing not theirs but my ancient private FB account to look at pictures of my kid on the swings, but also WHY anyone would bother to do that, and what earthly difference it would make if they did? Will they lose out on that top corporate job because their mother posted a picture of them in a halloween costume at Easter? The horror!

I'm probably going to be flamed for this, but why do people nowadays take photos sooo much?

It used to be that people took photos of holidays, birthdays, Xmas and special events. Now people take photos of their tea.

I completely understand that having a child with long term health issues, you would want to photograph that, and even share it on FB as that Is the reality of your life.

For me, that situation is different to, and I put my judgy pants on, when people who constantly post photos of their children, also post photos of them in life threatening emergency situations........it's probably irrational of me, but it seems to reduce the seriousness of the situation and make it into just another thing in life to photograph, when it is massively serious.

.....kids at park, kids eating tea, kids watching tv, kids in a life threatening emergency, kids dressing up...........

Because they can and they want to. It makes no difference to you, what do you care?

In the grand scheme of life, I don't care, but the OP has raised a point that I'm answering.

the OP has raised a point that I'm answering.

The OP wanted people to agree with her about how ghastly this person was. Some have, some haven't...