To think we all need to consider what we are posting on Social Media with regards to our children?

[AintNoOtherFan]

Whilst I was sat waiting for dd to finish her club I was reading a Digital magazine which helps parents to learn about online safety for children/teenagers.

In it there was an article about how to avoid embarrassing your child (mainly teenage age) on social media etc. It said years ago parents used to show their children's baby pictures to embarrass them but now it's all via Facebook/Instagram etc and it got me thinking.

I have been conscious about posting photos of my children on my Facebook page for a while now, mainly because they are approaching pre-teen age and I don't want them to look back in a few years on my Facebook to find lots of embarrassing pictures of them dressed as a Roman (for school play) or a toddler picture of them with food around their mouths.

I think of my friends I have on Facebook and they post loads of pictures of their children which don't get deleted, some have photos going back years from when they were babies. So whilst some teenagers/young adults might like it and see it as a good way to look back, some might also feel mortified! Especially if parents are posting embarrassing pictures of their teenagers now etc.

I've decided Facebook isn't a place to put my children's pictures on anymore but what do others think?

Here's Jeff Brazier going all out to embarrass his 12 year old son.

www.independent.ie/entertainment/jeff-brazier-tells-of-sadness-after-sons-party-snub-36250519.html

Maybe the boy agreed to this story being publicised, but I doubt he's very happy about it.

I share photos of all my kids (and me, Dh and the dogs). However, I only share with my actual real life friends. I don’t think any of us should be particuarly embarrassed by funny anecdotes and shots of some pretty great times!

I don't have any pictures of my LO online anywhere. Just my preference

I hate the ones showing a child unwell, in bed in hospital.

I have no idea why people do it.

‘Oh little Timmy has a bad chest infection, have to stay in and get his fever down )

Yeah alright then, go look after him. Why are you splashing his face all over social media, to get attention? It’s so weird.

By all means if you need attention post a status if you must, but why does it have to involve a snotty close up (usually extremely unflattering) picture of the poor kid. Last thing I’d want if I was I’ll in hospital was a family member going:

‘Awww I would feel bad for you, but first let’s have a selfie ’

I don't post embarrassing photos of anyone. Ds will never care about what is posted online about himself so it is up to me to decide what is ok.

I’ve always shared pics of my DC online and admittedly to begin with I didn’t consider the possible social problems or embarrassment this could cause for DC in the future. However, with DD approaching secondary age, and DS being quite easily embarrassed, I went back through all my pics, deleted a few and saved them elsewhere, changed the albums & photos to ‘Only Me’ and have turned this into a regular thing.

I would say that I now share less, but now that my DC understand what Facebook is and how it works, they will occasionally ask me to share a picture if we’ve done something fun or interesting, and I’m happy to share it and have a chat with Family & Friends for a bit, and then I change the setting to ‘Only Me’ after a few days.

I have wondered if it comes across as a bit paranoid, because my timeline has next to nothing on it, but it feels like the best of both worlds to me.

Mxy that could be a bit embarrassing for his son couldn't it! I bet the Mum of the girl wasn't too pleased either!

Killdora why do you assume people post 'for attention'? It's more of an online diary for most I'd say.**

Who the hell needs an ‘online diary’ of their child being ill (not seriously) in hospital.

Complete with an extremely embarrassing photo and cryptic attention seeking status.

(Just to add: I can understand completely why someone would post a photo of an extremely/terminally ill child, with their consent, to raise awareness etc. like Steven ‘thumbs up’)

I wouldn't want my mum to have a picture of me as a toddler with yogurt face on her Facebook page (if she had one,) especially if I was a teenager trying to be cool to her mates. Each to their own

Your teen friends wouldnt be able to see the photos on your mums page and would have no clue about them, as long as she understood security settings.
So no problem.

I have no online presence, so hopefully DD is safe I'm that respect.

Some parents do tag their children in the pictures though. So their mates could see the pictures.

I've been on FB for years. Since then we've had many, many events including the birth of a child. A very small amount of pictures have been posted over the years for very specific people.

It's up to parents to ensure that their privacy settings are tight if they're sharing pics on social media too.

I totally agree. It's so unfair on the dc.
I have never and will never post pics of my dc.

I'm definitely with you OP - I apply the 'what would DD's teenage friends think of this' filter to any pictures/comments I put about her online. It was very tempting to comment (not take a photo) when she finally did a poo on the potty for example, but while my security settings a fairly tight, I'm well aware that things are hackable, and that facebook could change their rules. I can all too easily imagine teenage bullies trying quite hard to get hold of embarrassing photos, possibly successfully. I assume anything I post on facebook etc. is possibly viewable by anybody, whatever my current security settings might be.

Thanks Captain Obvious