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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Covering kids face on Social media

52 replies

Ishecheating1 · 03/09/2021 20:35

AIBU to find it pointless to post a pic of your kid in facebook and put a big smiley face on his/her face?
I have kids and I post pics that I want friends and family to see.
I completely understand that some people do not like photos of their kids on SM, that's fair enough..just do not post any!!
What's the point of putting a photo of your kid eating an ice cream and cover the face? Surely you could just post a photo of the ice cream?
Or a photo of your kid at the beach fave covered...just post a pic of the beach

OP posts:

Original poster

Ishecheating1 · 03/09/2021 21:17

@Rufus27 is it stressful that you have to always worry about that. How would they find you, are you in same area as biological parents?
Must be hard to explain to.kids why they cannot be in school photos etc.

OP posts:

Blinkingheckythump · 03/09/2021 21:17

@Ishecheating1

I've even got a text from my friend before saying i never comment on her kids photos ...i told her there are no kids..just an emoji face eating an ice cream...then i went on FB and commented 'lovely smiley face eating ice cream'...she wasn't impressed.

I would be the person who comments like this. Its just daft attention seeking

Rufus27 · 03/09/2021 21:17

@Ishecheating1 I do agree that if you have no genuine reason to cover children’s faces, then doing it is a bit bonkers!

Moelwynbach · 03/09/2021 21:18

My son is adopted and I want to share all the normal things that other parents do without all the risk of his face being accidentally shared and his dangerous parents being able to find him?

Simonjt · 03/09/2021 21:25

My sons adopted, not only is it a safety issue, but being a child he can’t consent to his face being on social media. I run an adoption specific instagram, so I share relevent things about adoption, that will often feature my son. So I also make sure I don’t include pictures with identifiable landmarks etc, or, I share them after the event rather than when we are there, especially if we are on holiday.

Bitofachinwag · 03/09/2021 21:29

@CarryOnNurse20

I agree. I have a couple of friends who have all the privacy settings on and photos can’t be seen by any one not on their friends list and they still cover the child’s face. I find it so weird…you’re not a celebrity no one is going to hack your account and use you child’s photo..? So strange.

FB still have the photo though.

Rufus27 · 03/09/2021 21:31

[quote Ishecheating1]@Rufus27 is it stressful that you have to always worry about that. How would they find you, are you in same area as biological parents?
Must be hard to explain to.kids why they cannot be in school photos etc.[/quote]
Same area and we have to send the birth family a picture of them annually (though I’ve become an expert at selecting vague pictures which aren’t front on!).

School are brilliant and do a separate picture with DS in which we get before sending him on a mission while they take another.

I know of a situation when a parent posted a school play type photo of their DC and class peers without other parent’s permission. The picture included an adopted child. A friend of the woman who posted happened to be related to the birth family and recognised a family resemblance. Showed birth family. Birth dad turned up very aggressively at the child’s school gate. The adoptive family ended up having to move school and house. That’s always in the back of my mind.

Blueroses99 · 03/09/2021 21:34

I’ve only ever seen it where other children in the photo have their faces covered up for privacy, that makes sense to me. Covering up the subject’s face does seem weird.

hogangog · 03/09/2021 21:37

[quote Ishecheating1]@LindaEllen what does child abuse has to do with covering faces on fb?
Do you mean they cover the face to hide the bruises? I can assure you my friend is not a child abuser.[/quote]
i would look up claire rodahaver on instagram if you're not sure why people don't want their kids' faces on social media. unless you personally know every single person who can see your photos, and trust them 100% that they won't share them further, there is a risk of them falling into the wrong hands. you know those faceswap apps? that's how easy it is to swap a face from one photo to another now. people don't "need a reason" not to share their children on social media other than they're their children and have very right to protect their privacy.

as to why some people share a photo but blank the face, my best guess is that they've taken a photo for themselves to keep and can't be bothered to take another one without the child just for the sake of social media.

RedMarauder · 03/09/2021 21:39

@Moelwynbach

My son is adopted and I want to share all the normal things that other parents do without all the risk of his face being accidentally shared and his dangerous parents being able to find him?

Then why post his image on social media at all?

I don't post pictures of my DD and she isn't adopted. I've drawn the conclusion after indepth conversations with some of my nephews and nieces that I shouldn't.

Bitofachinwag · 03/09/2021 21:43

It doesn't really matter,does it? People have no duty to others to share their children 's faces on SM.

Screwcorona · 03/09/2021 21:49

I do it as my profile is public, I like to connect with acquaintances with shared sports interests. I have a private family group for nornal photos of my kids.

I would not have liked my childhood photos to be publicly available so I'm not doing it to my kids. I find adding a sticker useful if it's a lovely photo and I want to share but retain childs privacy. Such as photo on the beach, the child wouldn't be the main attraction in the photo though iyswim

lawofdistraction · 03/09/2021 21:53

Unless it's a safeguarding issue, it's ridiculous.
I only have 1 person on FB who does it thankfully as it hugely irritates me. It just seems so self absorbed. The child isn't adopted, nobody gives a shit.

Bitofachinwag · 03/09/2021 21:58

@lawofdistraction

Unless it's a safeguarding issue, it's ridiculous. I only have 1 person on FB who does it thankfully as it hugely irritates me. It just seems so self absorbed. The child isn't adopted, nobody gives a shit.

But why do you think they need a" safeguarding issue" to cover their child's face? ( Posting a child's photo online is a safeguarding issue).

Isn't posting your child's actual face self absorbed. Why do you do it? Why do you want people to see your child on SM?

QueenBee52 · 03/09/2021 21:58

People posting them think they are being adorable.. and protecting the childs privacy.. NOT posting the photo is protecting the childs privacy.

LynetteScavo · 03/09/2021 22:15

I tend to show photos of a close up of something such as an ice cream, or a picture of a scene (waves or a big wheel, or a mountain) with a caption such as "Who would have guessed it's possible to learnto surf in just one hour?! Now time for a hot chocolate!" with out showing my DCs face. The smiley faces just don't look good IMO, but I still get to stealth brag without compromising my DCs privacy.

alexio · 03/09/2021 22:20

@user1471447924

It’s a tiny bit attention seeking IMO. Unless they’re adopted or fostered, that’s a bit different.

@user1471447924 I agree it is attention seeking why go to the effort of posting the picture to block out their face... unless in the foster/adoption situation.

An old colleague of mine posted a pic of her kid a while back standing beside the swimming pool in short type things but had his face blocked out. I rather show my kids face than what little they are wearing I'd be more concerned about that

lawofdistraction · 03/09/2021 22:29

@Bitofachinwag people post pictures of their children because generally, their friends and family like to see them. I like seeing pictures of friends' children.

Bitofachinwag · 03/09/2021 22:35

[quote lawofdistraction]@Bitofachinwag people post pictures of their children because generally, their friends and family like to see them. I like seeing pictures of friends' children.

I think it's absolutely fine however not to want to post pictures of children - in which case, don't. Post pictures of other things, or not at all. What is the point of posting a picture just to plaster an emoji on it? [/quote]
Sure, but isn't actually posting photos of your child quite attention seeking? There's no point in posting unless you get some kind of attention and people notice that you've posted!

Other posters have explained what the point of posting a photo with an emoji over it is.

TooManyChocolateBiscuits · 03/09/2021 22:41

Similar to hiding the faces there were lots of back to school pics on Facebook today with the emojis or little hearts over the logo on clothes. One mum covered the school logo on the jumper with an emoji & then tagged the school as the location 🤦‍♀️

3scape · 03/09/2021 22:51

I guess it's a trend being thoughtlessly followed by some. But there's plenty of reason to have posts being the backs of children as they're doing something. They won't want to get to adulthood and find some ap auto tags every photo of them on the internet and to then have to contact every site to have them removed!

Ifbutmaybe · 04/09/2021 00:02

A regular non famous person had her child's photos off instagram used and passed around a site for nonces. Just because you think "no one cares if you're not famous" doesn't mean there aren't people out there who would exploit them.
Personally I'm not too worried but I still cover my child's face as my DP also isn't keen on the idea.
Not always attention seeking, not weird. Just a parents personal preference. Feel free to post your kids, if you ever have them, all over the Internet where they stay forever and are no longer your property.

Moelwynbach · 04/09/2021 01:31

@RedMarauder

As I said I like to put on the odd picture so that some if my friends can see what we have been up to. I tend to use the back of his head snd even then I think there are only very few on there. I'm not sure I would post pictures of his full face anyway as we can't know what they are used for.

He was posted on SM at his after school club luckily behind another child but that had to come down. His sister is fostered somewhere in the same area as we live so I dread that situation cropping up too. Constantly watching is hard.

QueenBee52 · 04/09/2021 01:34

There will be software out there in the WWW that can remove these Emojis that parents carefully choose to cover up their childrens faces...

Its just a matter of time ...

Just don't post them.. keep your kids images safe .. 🌸

RedMarauder · 04/09/2021 04:58

@QueenBee52 even if there currently isn't you can easily Photoshop someone else's head/face onto their body.

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