To ask, if you don’t share your child’s picture on social media…

[FlyingSoap]

Do you still share their name? Just planning what we are going to do after baby arrives. I am reluctant to share baby’s face online but don’t know if this should extend to all personal info about them.

Thoughts welcome either way.

No, no names or mention in text of having kids (I only post in professional or hobby groups on SM and never about myself or my life). One or two back of the head photos.

I don’t put anything. No pictures. No names. No nauseating announcement. You know it’s not compulsory? I WhatsApped the people I wanted to know about my baby’s arrival. Nice and private.

Zilch.

I don't have the right to plaster them over SM.

I cringe when I see parents, especially on tiktok, posting vids of kids swearing, having a meltdown etc. it's horrible. Out there forever. Abd I'm no 'theres a peado round every corner' type, but when you see the amount of times these videos have been saved and shared, it's sick.

I shared neither their name or their photo. It was their privacy not mine and so I didn't share either until they were old enough to make an informed decision.

I’ve shared maybe 5 or 6 photos in total on my private Facebook (kids are under 10). I haven’t put their names on there, and I don’t do birthday posts (you could work out birthday month from when I’ve posted but not day). Most people I know personally haven’t shared their kids names and won’t put mine on - eg if someone shares an event they think my DC would like they’ll tag me and put “yours might like this” or at most “how about this for P?”

The one which absolutely infuriates me is when someone posts a very personal question for their child - bed wetting, early puberty, etc - in a big Facebook group and accompanies it with an unrelated photo of their child! Talk about totally destroying their privacy.

I've shared nothing at all on social media - not even a birth announcement. If you were on my Facebook you wouldn't even know I'd been pregnant or had a child. And I'm quite happy that way. Everyone I care about I am in contact a different way and share photos via WhatsApp

I'm a children's professional and I don't upload anything of my children on social media. Ever.

Interesting question. On balance, with no name/date of birth then I’m ok with it. I don’t see it particularly different from him appearing in in school pictures - you have to know where he’s at school to find that and, using google could pull pictures of billions of children (including perhaps my child from his school website) - which could then be used in whatever way wanted.

I think that’s a much deeper question though than the one most parents who limit their child’s online existence are concerned about - their concerns are that a child grows up without the world knowing they potty trained at 2, threw a tantrum at 5, asked innocent but inappropriate questions about sex at 7 or got drunk at 12 after mine sweeping a family bbq without that being known by indefinite numbers of people. They don’t want their child embarrassed, ashamed or angry in the future.

I've always put pictures of DS up, he's an adult now and couldn't care less that I did, why would he? The danger is when they're old enough to get on the internet and be groomed, not some random pictures of them as a child.

Dodgy people can see kids anywhere they go, they can go to the beach and take any pictures they like. People obsess over photos of their children on the internet but the real danger is kids going on the internet unsupervised. People really should be worrying a lot more about that.

No, I share nothing.

We had a private group on fb to share pictures and updates as we had moved away and had family and friends all over the place. Now DD is 11 she will say don’t put that on fb etc but I’ve rarely posted much in the last year anyway. A few holiday pics.

We share nothing. Absolutely nothing. You wouldn’t even know I have children looking at my social media.

I don’t share my child online at all. I’ve even opted out of social media for DC at pre-school.

I shared an announcement with her name but no DOB or middle names that could be used in identity theft.

That was the one and only post of her on SM.

We don’t share anything - if I care about you in my life, I’ll call/text/send pic so you know I’ve had a child. If you’re not close enough for me to do that, then you don’t need my children’s personal info!

Why do you need to share it on social media? Sure WhatsApp is safer, to family and friends only.

Do you regularly share parts of your life on social media? I only know a few people on my FB that actually post photos of days out etc now and barely anyone ever updates their status etc! I don’t really understand why people do now tbh. Surely that’s what family albums online are for or WhatsApp groups etc.

Never 21 and 19 now.

I did share photos when they were little but this was a good few years ago now when social media was new. I don't share photos of them as teenagers without their permission.

My Facebook is very private and I'll share family photos maybe 3 or 4 times a year. This is generally about 5 holiday snaps each time. My children are 14 and 11 and don't mind. I don't put up photos they're not happy with. I've moved around a lot and 99% of my friends and family live far away, so it's a nice way to keep in touch.
The people who respond to your question are more likely not to share photos so I think this may give a slightly skewed impression. I have over 250 friends on Facebook. I can only think of one person who never posts images of her child. The vast majority of my friends share occasional photos but nothing excessive. Some overshare and I do think they're compromising their children's privacy (thinking of people who post details of their adult children's relationship problems etc!).

No, I never have ( only ever photos in the distance/ back of his head 😂).

Also only refer to his initial.

He's 13 now. He said recently that his friends had all googled themselves and he was the only one who didn't come up online anywhere.

Have to agree with @SallyWD that the people responding pretty much define the general direction the thread is heading and this does not represent the majority.

There is a world of difference between having a small, private social media account where you share few pictures of your children and being an influencer with an open account, many thousands of followers and sharing every moment of their child's life including tears, tantrums and other information the child will probably not want all to know when they're older. There are also many people who use their personal social media accounts to promote their small businesses and post pictures of their children to an open account as a result. I would not do this.

As with all things, balance is important. I do share occasional pictures on a private account because I have moved around and this allows me to share my family with friends elsewhere in the world. I also allow school/clubs to post pictures of my child on their accounts but not for them to be named or me to be tagged as I do not want it linked to me. I don't have an issue with generic pictures of my child being 'out there' but they are the standard pictures rather than anything someone may be embarrassed about one day.

I have an old Facebook account which was opened in 2006/7 when it first launched and has many hundreds (if not thousands) of friends from school, uni, travels and other places. There is no mention of my children there

Not that I have small kids anymore but can I ask exactly WHY it isn't safe?

I take pictures of my children and put them on Facebook for my parents, and Aussie inlaws living down under to see how they're doing. But you can only see them if you're friends with me on Facebook, Id never publicly post pictures of the kids or even feature the kids in my profile picture.

There are a lot of wronguns on the internet who look for pictures of children (even if theyre not dirty).