Why parents need to stop moaning about their kids on social media

“Thank god we didn’t have social media when we were kids” read the caption to a post that popped up on my Facebook feed recently. It was a compilation of pictures that parents across the world had posted online of their kids doing the ridiculous things that kids do, like smashing their face into their birthday cake or laying on the floor exhausted after a tantrum.

Admittedly, it was hilarious. But the caption made a good point about so-called “sharenting”. As adults, aren’t we glad that our parents didn’t share cringe-worthy images of us as kids online? Sometimes it can get a little uncomfortable to read mums and dads moaning about how terribly behaved their children are. Just imagine how it would play out IRL if a dad stood in the middle of a shopping centre holding up a photo of his toddler being sick on a carpet, shouting about how the stain won't even budge with Vanish. Here are some things to consider people sharing that photo of your child laying face down in the supermarket online.

Sharing is caring. Until it isn't.

It's great that there's a modern culture of parents being honest about how hard it is to be a mum or dad, from the horrors of giving birth in gory detail to the shock of post-natal depression or struggling to cope with unruly teenagers. That liberates us all.

It can be a joy to scroll through my news feed to see the cheeky things that toddlers have done, or read about a kid’s proud moment winning the egg and spoon race at sports day. But a photo of the exact arrangement of toast that little Oscar didn't eat this morning? Not so much.

What happened to team parent?

It seems counterproductive to lecture kids to take care of their social media accounts by avoiding sharing what they wouldn’t want a future employer to see, while we undo it all by bitching about them online.

According to a survey by the charity The Parent Zone, mums and dads will post 1,000 photos of their first child online by the time they’re five. From the ultrasound to their first day at pre-school, every moment is documented.

So, is the 15th post this week complaining about how your two-year-old didn't doesn't like broccoli or your teenager leaves plates in their room really necessary or interesting? What happened to parents supposed to be their kid’s biggest fan?


http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/why-parents-moaning-about-children-kids-online-social-media-mumsnet-facebook-stop-a7526761.html


I have a social media account but I rarely, if ever, post photos or information about my children. I may occasionally post a witty remark my daughter comes out with, but never do I brag, or moan.
I don't understand it to be honest. Children get their photos blasted all over the Internet and I'm betting not many of them, have given their consent.

Results of a recent survey  were published last week, and the % of kids  who were embarrassed and upset that their parents shared private stuff  including photos of them, without  their permission, was surprising.

It used to be that parents embarrassed their kids by showing pics to a few chosen  friends, now they are plastered on the internet for all to see.

And it will all be there for ever

those Dumb ass mums that bitch about the teenagers being lazy WILL make it harder for them to get a job (particularly part time teenager jobs)

JUST HOW stupid and juvenile are those parents  ???

Don't they realise that regularly posting semi-private photo's and stories on "social media" is akin to putting a weekly family newsletter up onto a public notice board, for all the world to see..

Those kinds of "dumbass" parents should have been stopped from breeding before they had even started  !

veya_victaous wrote:And it will all be there for ever

those Dumb ass mums that bitch about the teenagers being lazy WILL make it harder for them to get a job (particularly part time teenager jobs)

Good point.
If something is put on a social media site.... it can bite you on the bum years later.
I know of a woman who was sacked from her job because someone had said something to her on facebook and she had replied in a very in pc manner.
Same with kids....whatever is said about them now could be detrimental to them later on.
Its an awful invasion of their privacy by the very people they should be able to trust.

I don't get the posts that some mums post up either, when they write stuff like "Playing board games with the kids!" followed by a photo of the monopoly board.

Erm no you're not love, you're on Facebook

I have a friend that writes "snuggling up wiv my fav man"
I actually want to smack her.

eddie wrote:I don't get the posts that some mums post up either, when they write stuff like "Playing board games with the kids!" followed by a photo of the monopoly board.

Erm no you're not love, you're on Facebook

I have a friend that writes "snuggling up wiv my fav man"
I actually want to smack her.

I don't even know her, but so do I.