To ask why people post pictures of their poorly children on social media?

[JokersRus]

Why?? Especially the children who end up in ambulances and/or hooked up to wires etc. I just don't understand it. I can understand maybe a picture to keep privately but why does it have to be plastered all over SM??

I don't like seeing kids in pain or suffering, especially when I've watched mine go through some awful things and the last thing I want to do, is post their distress over the net for likes and comments. It always seems to be the people that document every part of their life. Why????

Because they’re pathetic drama llamas who aren’t above using their own child for attention and “likes” on social media. It’s pretty deplorable.

God you should all be ashamed of being so judgemental. If you don't want to see it, click 'see less' of this friend. My nephew is severely disabled and in and out of hospital. His mum sometimes puts pictures and updates up for SUPPORT from her so called friends. Hopefully she doesn't have any friends like you lot.
She takes a lot of comfort in knowing people are thinking about her and her son and the messages of love they send. I suppose she should just suffer alone so as not to disturb your feed

Because when you spend a year of your life with your 10 yr old son having brain surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, many lumbar punctures, being tube fed and countless other tests, it is normal for machines to be in the background of photos, and for the photos to be in a hospital setting. This was how he spent the last year of his life and I'm glad I have the memories to look back on.

I have no idea. When my DS had life-threatening heart surgery, I was terrified, my heart was breaking, the absolute last thing to occur to me was updating social media. The important people were there or knew anyway.

A lot of people use Facebook to keep in contact with distant relatives. In times like this, most people don't have the time to call and update everyone individually, so really, it takes the pressure off the parents to post one photo/status and update everyone in one go.

That's how I see it anyway.

Oh muddling , so sorry for your loss. I can see how that was a comfort.

I don't buy the support excuse. Why not just post 'feeling lonely in hospital can anyone chat to me '. Why post a photo of someone else without their permission? If people want to update close family they need to have a fb account with just those few people. There's no need for 200 acquaintances to see photos of your child on their sickbed.

Sorry if that sounded harsh - but children are entitled to privacy, and their parents should be capable of seeking support without posting their child's private information or photos online.

Muddling, I don't think anyone would be bothered by pictures of kids with long-term illnesses. I think the OP was commenting on people posting pictures of their kids when the kids are obviously in pain and distressed. You can say "DD has fallen off her bike so we've taken her to A&E for an x ray of her arm in case its broken" without a photo of a crying child covered in blood.

Absolutely post for support but why with a photo of your ill child?
I get people posting their newborns or people just posting pics of their kids who happen to be in hospital long term. But posting pics of your sad faced, sweaty child holiding the vomit bucket? Posting a pic in the back of an ambulance? Sorry but taking a picture not a normal reaction in those cases.

A friend of mine posted a video of her child being loaded into an air ambulance a few weeks ago

I thought it was a bit weird but it seems she uses FB as a kind of online photo storage facility as she posts everything - today it was photos of the inside of her washing machine.

DS spent much of his first tow years in hospital, I posted regularly about our journey which inadvertently would include pics of him in his incubator etc. Other parents could post healthy pics of their kids, could post about taking their baby on a weekend to Grannies or walks in the park. I couldn't and I just wanted l, needed, that connection, and yes the support and people caring about a baby I might not bring home. It was also a way of keeping friends informed because I didn't have the emotional capacity for the phone calls or individual emails.
I would have accepted politely anyone who chose to unfollow m, and probably wouldn't have clicked who hadn't commented etc.
It made me feel like my baby was a part of the real world.

Perhaps that makes me a terrible mother though

Ah someone on my Facebook posted a pic of their vibrator next to their DDs Elsa doll and a caption about giving up her pleasure for her daughters. She’d taken the battery’s out so her daughter could have them for her doll. 🤮

Muddling I’m so so sorry for your loss and clearly your case is an exception as are others where a child spends long periods of time in hospital.

However OP I tend to agree with you generally - I just don’t feel it’s right posting photos of your miserable, poorly child on social media.

I pity people who do this. Desperate for attention. Have they no one to phone? WhatsApp? Facebook messenger?
Yes my DM would want a pic of my kids if they were in hospital but I would send thus privately? Not upload it to Facebook.
Feel sorry for the children. I would hate my photo of me in hospital being plastered online.

@SleepingStandingUp you're not a terrible mother. You're completely normal, unlike these superhuman judgemental posters. God forbid they ever experience the need for support or need to comprehend that people deal with stress and grief in different ways.

I don't think anyone should be plastering their kids photos over social media full stop.

It's only ever done for the parent's benefit, so they can see the 'likes' and 'love hearts'.

Sure, some pretend it's so Aunt Mable in Outer Mongolia can get to see little Timmy, stood by the front door in his new school uniform.

But there's a much more private invention called email.

How judgey of you. It's about sharing with friends and getting support.

Why do friends need a photo of a sick child put on the internet, in order to give support?

Have they no one to phone? WhatsApp? Facebook messenger?
The issue is more too many. We had a Wattsapp group for immediate family (siblings, grandparents) for all the details. But I didn't have the time of energy forto reply to a constant stream of how is he, how are you from wider family, friends from school and Uni and work and volunteer place. So some were just updates and some were photos of how well he was doing. I don't get the videoing them loading your child into the ambulance (I was too busy making sure we'd got everything we needed and making sure he was OK) or blood gushing as they sob but when your life is hospital then the ohotos of them doing well may well be hooked up to 10 different lines looking puffy because to us we could only see the progress.

If you don't put any photos of your children up or only with their face blocked out then of course you will find any photos objectionable but if you post photos of your kids happy and smiley and running around, accept some of us don't always have that option

A friend of mine has a child with a severe life limiting condition. She posts photos of him occasionally when they are in A&E usually waiting for transfer to GOSH.

Some respond, many of us don’t bit we are all aware that at the moment her boy is struggling and so is she. I tend to drop her a line to see if she needs anything when I see this as I am aware life is difficult for her at present,

So no so can’t get too worked up about it. It’s her call for support because she is feeling insecure at an awful time,

A study in 2016 Here is a fairly worrying but interesting read.

It finds that on average, parents post nearly 1,500 photos by their child’s fifth birthday – a 54% increase since the year before.

Yet I'm thinking a lot of those parents would hit the roof, if someone took it upon themselves to post any amount of photos of them without their permission/approval. Let alone 1,500 of them

I was in hospital a lot as a kid, nothing life threatening but complicated enough to be in a well known children's hospital.
This was way before camera phones and social media but oddly my mum still took a camera along and I have lots of photos of me poorly, the surgeries and then coming home. Repeated each time. I guess she showed her friends and family and I have the photos now and occasionally discuss with my own DC's. I think it's just a modern thing of that really.

Saying that I haven't taken photos of either of my DC's in hospital but have taken photos of DS looking ill, as in very pale and tired as he was off of nursery and school a lot due to asthma and I'm sure there's times when they or other parents doubt me , so I've posted a few as a sort of evidence that actually he is ill.

I don’t know I’m not keen on blasting dc online anyway but I guess for some it’s well I shared the good times I won’t stop with the bad

If it’s temporary it feels weirder because it could just pass. The situation I’m thinking of is long term illness - who’d want that :(

So if you don’t believe in privacy anyway there’s not much stopping you
Plus sometimes it turns into actual monetary help, not that I think most people do it for this