Different parents make different decisions about how to raise their children, and that’s okay. Some parents don’t allow much screen time. Others don’t mind if their kids watch TV and play video games. Some parents sign their children up for lots of activities. Other parents let their children enjoy nature and give them plenty of free time to spend exploring and creating their own stories and adventures.
Parenting begins when a baby is born, and today’s parents face a decision their parents didn’t have to think about – whether or not to post pictures of their children on social media. Some parents proudly post picture after picture of their newborn baby all over social media and continue the trend as their children grow up. Other parents want to respect their children’s privacy and refuse to post any pictures of their children on social media.
One new mom shared on Reddit that she and her husband decided not to post pictures of their daughter on social media, and they asked their family members not to post pictures of her online either. Since the family is spread out, the new mom created an album on Facebook that she set to private, and this is the only place where she posts pictures of her daughter.
The new mom explained, “Because our daughter is so young(and there is a pandemonium going on rn) neither mine or my husbands family have gotten to meet our daughter in person.”
Obviously, the family wanted to see pictures of the new addition to the family, so the new mom decided to share pictures in the private Facebook album she created; however, she made it very clear that these pictures were not to be shared publicly on Facebook or anywhere else on social media.
Everyone respected her wishes except for her mother-in-law who has reposted the pictures on her own Facebook page multiple times. When the new mom called her out on it and asked her to take the pictures down, “she said no because she wanted to be able to share the pictures with her friends and it was ‘insane’ of me to completely restrict sharing any photos online.”
Because of her mother-in-law’s behavior, the new mom ended up taking down the private photo album and no longer sends her mother-in-law any photos of her baby because she doesn’t trust her.
She wrote, “My husband has been in contact with his parents telling them to stop, but they still feel they have a right to do it, and other family members on his side have said we are blowing this way out of proportion.” Now she wants to know what Reddit users think. Is she asking too much of her mother-in-law or is her request reasonable?
Reddit overwhelmingly sided with the new mom. One grandmother wrote, “I am a grandmother, too, and would never share pictures of my grandchild online if her parents said not to, because that is the easy thing to do.”
Another comment reads, “I’m a grandmother also. My granddaughter is two and a half. From the very beginning my daughter said no pictures on FB. No one has put a single pic on it. It’s called respect.”
Multiple people also suggested that she report her mother-in-law’s posts to Facebook to have them taken down. For example, one person wrote, “I’d also report the post to FB and tell them that it is a photo of your child that the individual does not have a right to post and they need to remove her posts containing any pictures of your child. Provide them links.”
Do you share pictures of your children or grandchildren on social media? Do you think this new mom is asking too much of her mother-in-law, or do you think the mother-in-law should respect her daughter-in-law’s wishes?
