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Putting your kids on social media

This post has been bubbling around in my brain for a while… I haven’t really shared much of my kids online in a long time. Things have changed around here, they are getting older, they are getting savvy and I have learnt some new stuff along the way. I am sure some people think I just sit in my house on my own and ban my children from entering, or some people even forget I have kids, because they don’t feature on my blog or Instagram much any more haha. 😉 But in fact, they take up 95% of my time and I only share the pretty and fancy 5% of my day!

Today I wanted to share with you a few things I have learnt… I follow a few great Mummy Blogs and Instagrammers who spam us with their kids. I like watching, and the kids are soooo cute, but it does stress me out a little.

My boys are now 15, 12 and almost 11. The eldest is on all social media and the other two have dipped their toes in recently with Instagram and Snapchat. My reasoning behind letting them use social media is a post for another day. But anyway, they are using it. They are all over it. It’s here to stay.

I work online a lot. I am on it pretty much every day sharing snippets here and there. But my kids do not want to feature on ANY of it. If they so much as get a whiff of a photo or a comment circulating about them they will fly in to a rage. So I know better. Anything that is put online now comes with permission. They must view it, see what I write and agree to it. I have hundreds of fun and cute photos sitting on my phone, but I know none of it will ever end up online. I am respecting their wishes, and I should not be in charge of what everyone sees and knows about them. Plus I think they like having a heads up. They don’t want to get a screenshot or winky smiley face of them when they had no idea.

What I am noticing is that they also get quite upset if a baby photo or anything from YouTube (which we may have recorded years ago) gets mentioned. I have even gone back on some old stuff and deleted it. They don’t think it’s cute or funny. They just feel embarrassed.

Here’s the other thing… if they don’t directly see what’s online about them then I can GUARANTEE someone they know will see it and bring it to their attention. It’s happened… Boys who don’t like them will say something, girls who stalk them will see it. Parents read it and mention it in their homes. I promise it happens!

And it’s upsetting me to see some parents are carving out a very heavy digital footprint for their children already.

I have some pretty awful days and I could go to town on the stuff that happens around here, but it must all stay offline for the sake of my boys. I could also write a great parenting book on dealing with 3 boys, their hormones, changes, friendships, aggression and teaching them about the highs and lows of life! But these years are crucial and I feel that not everyone needs to know about their dramas/triumphs.

Most kids won’t catch on to all the social media stuff until they are about 10 years old. And when they do they will google themselves or start stalking you. Now what happens if they are a very shy and private child?? Maybe they aren’t as outgoing and carefree as you are? When the teenage years hit, they won’t think it’s cute like we do. My almost 11 year old found stuff online about him when he was 2 years old. He was in the nude (you could only see his bum) and he was crying because he fell in some mud, but he didn’t like it being online. I thought it was funny and cute – he didn’t. Lesson learnt.

Our generation doesn’t know how that feels – to be displayed online by our parents – because there was no internet. I love looking at my baby photos and the teenage years when I had a perm, but I get to choose whether anyone sees them or not.

I started out as a “Mummy Blogger” but it had to end at some point and I can see now why it had to. Teenage boys (well mine anyway!) don’t want to be on show. And I don’t want to force them to be. I don’t want people judging my kids based on all the online stuff I put out there.

So I’ll stick to photos of the dog, my house, the sky and the occasional family photo (when each person has approved it!).

I’m not saying people who have little kids need to stop, but I am suggesting just to consider that their personality may be a little different to yours… they may be more reserved and private, but by the time they can speak up, there will be so many photos and so much said about them that they become embarrassed and angry.

Just some food for thought. Have you had any similar online experiences with your kids?

♥ KC.

44 comments

  • Ness Lockyer

    This has always been my thoughts on my own children online. People often ask why I don’t show them, and my answer/thoughts about it remain the same since day one…their life is there’s. It’s there for them to put up their own thoughts and images as they grow and learn that once it’s out there it’s forever. Just like it is mine to put things up I love that relate to my interests. What happens when they head off to high school, and there are images of them doing things we think are cute, but they could find embarrassing, and then someone at school googles them, or they google themselves? As adults we are weary of our own images being put out there, and being judged. So, for me, I don’t think it is right to put up photos of my children unless they know and are ok about it. I just think that’s for them to do, not me. Then there’s also the safety aspect. Every family is different, but for ours this is what works.
    Ness xx

    • Katrina (author)

      I still love seeing people’s families and that’s also why I love the internet, but I think we should just be mindful of what actually goes online in regards to our little people. 🙂

  • Nathan Southwell

    Unfortunately we are all groomed everyday, Social media has become a avenue business has used to reach many millions in an instant and they use many avenues jncluding our internet browsing to target this marketing. If it’s not here it would be where the mass of people are, business go where the money is. This technology can be used for and against us. In the end it’s all for money and business. Teaching kids at a young age what is acceptable is the key. It’s like anything in life moderation and educate yourself and kids to know what is suspect or not.

  • Lisa Harrison

    I couldn’t agree more, Katrina. What I like the most is, you are modelling respect for others and their opinion/choice.

  • Anne-Marie McNamara

    I never use their name or their image. People who I really want to share with get texts.

  • Kylie Bassingthwaighte

    I was forced to think about it after my son asked me not to post photos of him. It’s not only our digital footprint, it’s theirs too.

  • Tania Scott

    My girls aged 11-13 -15-16 hate me sharing images of them on Facebook i have to get their ok first.

  • Martine Oglethorpe

    Because of my work I thought I should practise what I preach and always make sure I ask permission before posting photos. My 15 year old finally said “mum nothing you post is ever going to be more embarrassing than what me and my friends are posting ourselves!”

  • Belinda Doyle

    My boys like to know what’s going up… however i prefer not to post photos of them on my biz account. As they are getting older they are able to do more and more by themselves and for security reasons I would prefer not to broadcast their faces, names and activities etc. My private account gets all the kid spam.

  • Sharon Nixon

    We have to respect our kids to receive respect from them.
    I certainly wouldn’t like my son posting photos etc on the FB etc, of me all the time in every situation, so I respect that he doesn’t like me posting all sorts about him.
    He actually doesn’t post a lot himself anyway, so I do get his ‘OK’ if I do put photos online.
    Good write up Katrina x

  • Renae Doncon

    My children are 19, 16, 8 and 6. For years a lot of new people I have met (through the younger kids) didn’t realise I have 2 older boys because they never saw photos of them on FB. Now I always ask permission from all of my children before posting photos and respect their decision.

  • Priscilla Skarpona

    Have had very similar experiences. When I was writing my blog, my daughter found it frustrating that her peers knew every little thing our family did. I ended up not writing anymore because I am a storyteller, and without that I had nothing to offer (in terms of the blog). But I wasn’t going to compromise my children’s right to privacy. It’s different with you though, because you have a different focus- design etc. I find with my IG, I don’t post anything too personal, and rarely pics of the teens. I do love taking photos though and enjoy sharing just a little of our life. I just have to be mindful of what might be potentially embarrassing for the kids

  • Katie

    My husband and I made a conscious decision not to put any photos of our 1yo online for this very reason. She’s too young to give consent. We’re in a new world where we don’t know what will happen with social media in the future. So we only ever post a picture of the back of her head or her hands

  • Chrissie Taylor

    Love this Katrina ❤ I started writing a book a few years ago on the journey through Autism with my then 5 year old child. And the effects on the family dynamics. It was brutally honest. It needed to be to make a sale in a niche market. Books are hard to sell.
    Reflecting back on it 18months later, I thought “What if my child reads this? What will they be thinking about themselves?”
    I also needed to consider my husband and my other child and the possible psychological damage it may cause later in life.

    For the sake of venting MY frustrations and journey for a bit of pocket money-if any from book sales about the gritty part of my life I decided it wasn’t worth it.
    It wasn’t worth the risk of getting a name as an honest parent who writes about her struggles at the expense of my family. My kids.

    I love your post xx

  • Rhys Bower

    You had a perm? Pics or no way!

    Food for thought Katrina. Would I like all our old family albums of me as a little fatty online? I would care, now, but as a 12-15 year old, I don’t think I would have liked it.

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