Is your feed full of your child’s cute face? Well, to each his own. It may not be a big deal for you, but for some people, it is. Read this mum’s view on why she’s not posting her child’s face on social media.
What can you read in this article?
- Why she’s not posting pictures of her child’s face on social media
- Rare occasions when they do post family photos
- How to handle it when other people take photos of your child?
I love taking pictures and videos of our little boys. I love capturing the precious moments – their milestones, the cute little outfits, the activities we do together, the candid whatnots. I know they’ll be little for just a short while, and soon they’ll be the two tall men Momma would always hug! I may not be able to freeze time, but at least I know we have photos to go back to. The tangible thing closest to the many memories we hold close to our hearts.
Yes, I take lots of pictures, but rarely do I post them. My husband and I both agree we don’t post and expose our children’s faces on social media.
Aside from keeping them safe from the dangers of the web, we also felt that whether or not our babies’ faces will be on the internet is a decision they have to make personally when they’re ready to understand.
Why We’re Not Posting Our Child’s Face on Social Media
As early as now, we want them to know that their faces and bodies are part of their identity, and it is also their responsibility. We want them to know that we respect what they want with the things they own (their privacy included) and that this kind of respect is what they need to look for every time. Of course, the kind of respect they need to give other people too when they grow up.
When I take photos, sometimes our Francis would tell me “No, Mama,” and I will stop. When they’re old enough, whether or not they’d like a tattoo or a tan is up to them.
So much so that whether or not they’d like their faces posted on the web would be up to them. When they’re old enough, they will decide on these for themselves.
Do we share the photos? The photos and videos serve their purpose like usual. Shared to closest friends and relatives, printed for the frames and albums. It’s just the posting part that we intend to skip, and this entails a lot of commitment, consistency, sometimes even creativity.
In rare cases, we post family portraits. We admit there are just moments when we are so happy, we can’t resist sharing in our profiles too.
But again, we meticulously choose the ones where our babies’ faces are discreetly exposed or the ones that rather highlight other things. Since I love capturing the little boys’ best shot, we seldom have the “discreet” ones, so in the end, we post very, very few. Close to nothing.
How To Handle Being Discreet When Other People Take Photos Of Your Kids
There are instances as well when people in our circle would take photos of the babies and that’s totally fine. But we make sure we nicely ask that close-up photos are not being posted. We also explain that it’s just a personal parenting choice. There are occasions that we have to ask some people to take down the post because… hmmm, we already asked them not to in the first place.
But for the love of motherhood, I’ve recently also opened an online store for mums and babies. I’m an aspiring mumfluencer too. The challenge with every post I make is to share a part of me while I inspire, empower and promote products & advocacies, without putting the spotlight on our children’s faces.
Sometimes there are shots that are just too cute to not share, and during these times we remind ourselves of our choice and our purpose. The cute shots we keep for our records, and then we shoot again until we get the right angle.
Like I always tell my husband, we promote products and support advocacies, the highlight is on them and not on the children. And the challenge just keeps rolling.
Posting our children’s faces on social media is just one of the many things that my husband and I discuss together as parents.
Different families have different backgrounds, different points of views lead to different parenting styles. Yet all are anchored to one and the same purpose of ensuring our children’s safety and making sure they are reared to be good and responsible people in the future, the best way we know how. This one is our personal way of protecting our babies. We also respect the styles and ways of other parents.
This article written by Florian Cecil Torres-Hora was first published on the theAsianparent Philippines and was edited and republished with permission.
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