With everyone online in some form or fashion, many children have a presence online before they are even born. While everyone loves to share their children being adorable, the trend of oversharing parents has faced a lot of backlash recently. So, should you post photos of your kids online? The answer of course is, it depends. Here are some things to think about before you post pictures of your children online.
Posting Embarrassing Photos of Your Kids
You might think your toddler throwing a tantrum over something silly or your young teenager acting out is so funny you need to share it on social media. However, remember anything you put online can stick around forever, and potentially follow your kids for the rest of their lives.
Oversharing like this is not fair on your children, and you should keep in mind how pictures or videos will be seen by other people. What kind of impact could this have on your kids when they’re older? They may be humiliated by this kind of images now and later.
Once something is online, you don’t know who will see it. It could be seen by future bullies, college admissions officers, and even employers. Before you post, instead of figuring out how to add music to instagram story, instead think about how you would feel if the picture was of you.
Consider The Message You Are Giving Your Kids
As parents, you have a responsibility to teach your children about the risks of social media, and online safety, and carefully considering which phone older children should have. However, if you then ignore your own advice when you’re online, you can undermine your message. As well as teaching online safety, you need to model it too.
As children grow up always seeing photos of themselves all over your social media, they will see this as the norm. You could be accidentally teaching them they have no privacy and no control over their image online.
Avoid Giving Away Your Children’s Personal Information
According to a UK study, the average parent shares 1,500 photos of their child online before they turn five. A lot of parents use social media to announce the birth of their children, and some go even further with custom hashtags and setting up social media accounts in their child’s name.
This can be cute and an efficient way to share with your family and friends, but all of this can be used to piece together your child’s name, date of birth, and address. Wait your address? Most photos taken by your phone are geotagged with the location (i.e. your home). You may have inadvertently put your child at risk of identify theft and digital kidnapping.
Digital kidnapping is when someone else uses the details of a child and pretends they are their own. If your child is searchable, anyone can find out just about anything about them. To keep them safe, be careful about the information that you share about them. Check your privacy settings on your devices and your accounts.
Avoid Posting Photos Of Your Kinds In The Nude
Those classic family shots of your toddler in the bath or running around in the backyard might be cute, but after you have posted it online, you don’t have any control over it anymore. Anyone can do anything they want with it.
There is a chance photos like this could fall into the wrong hands. Even if you use hashtags that seem harmless to you, like #bathtime or #pottytraining, these can attract the attention of the wrong kind of people. Save these photos for your private physical photo album.
Be Wary Of Posting Revealing Locations and Routines
It can be very easy to track people using information from the photos posted online. To keep your kids safe from being found, turn geotagging and any locations services before you post anything.
Don’t post any details about where you live or where your children go to school. Avoid tagging the locations of places you or your children go to frequently, like the local park. Crop out any recognizable landmarks from photos taken in these places.
When posting “first day of school” shots, take the pictures at home, not at school where the name is visible. Be careful not to advertise your routine, and wait a few days to post photos of places you are.
Get Your Child’s Permission To Post Photos of Them
Some people might say parents have every right to post pictures of the family and their children, but children don’t ask for online childhoods. Babies and toddlers don’t have much say in what their parents share online, but tweens, teens, and some younger children do have an opinion about their image being shared.
Some kids feel as though their parents share too much about them online without their consent. You might think it’s your right to post on social media, but your kids might not. Your children have a right to decide what is posted about them and deserve not to have their privacy violated.
As soon as your children are old enough to have an opinion, ask for their permission before you post. As well as, following the other guidance in this article.
Beware Of The Backlash and Cyber-Bullying
When posting photos of your children, consider what people who see those pictures will think. There are all kinds of reasons people might not like it, and many of those people will be happy to tell you exactly why. This can be upsetting to read.
People are regularly attacked online for oversharing or because someone disagrees with your parenting choices. To avoid this, think before you post, and try to develop a thick skin against people who want to argue about everything. There will always be someone who disagrees with your parenting, whether they think your children should play outside more, or only eat a plant-based diet.
Be ready with the block button for anyone who just wants to be negative. Better yet, address your privacy settings and take another look at who you are connected with in the first place. We all want to share the moments in our life, and we can, as long as we do it safely and consider the bigger picture.
We hope you enjoyed this content about posting photos of your kids online. Check out our other great content!
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