Before our babies actually made it to the outside we had some reservations about social media and how to handle that aspect of life for a baby. We have heard the range of things to do from numerous sources ranging from “you don’t need to worry, everyone does it” to “your child should never be on the internet.” We knew that neither one of those extremes really worked for us, mainly because we are active on social media, have a blog, and also use it to stay connected to friends and distant relatives, and then the free for all, is just all not for us. We want/wanted to be smart about how we put our kids out there to the world and really believe that balance is a good idea. We want to be protective but at the same time balanced and we hope in the end we are making the best decision. This world is scary but it’s also fabulous at the same time.
We also are just putting this out there as another “option” for people to look at and we are by no means judging the ways other people choose to use social media with their kids. We are huge on the “to each their own” idea. You have your kid and make the decisions you want. We know that many probably don’t even agree with what we are doing. This is just what we decided and we realize that it won’t be what you do and that is OK!
This is our thought process and some of the decisions we have made with our husbands and family:
- We didn’t and won’t say their names on the internet, yet. We did this for a couple of reasons. One, babies have their identities stolen a lot and we felt that was safer just to not have it openly out there, especially the full names and also much easier stolen when the birth date is attached, until we are able to teach them about using social media. As adults, or kids who have been taught, we think that is a different story, but as babies, they have no say. Second, we want them to know the difference between people that really know them and are “safe” and people who might just know them from the internet. They will have a “social media” name for that reason. Baby P is referred to as Lane and Baby H is referred to as Miles on our blog. Thank you Runner’s World magazine for the “running friendly” baby names!
- We will always listen to our instincts. If we are uncomfortable about something that someone posts or says, we will let them know and/or delete it ourselves. Luckily the social media avenues allow you control like that.
- We plan to be conservative and not excessive. We don’t want anything out there that might embarrass our babies in the future and we don’t want to send out every last thing they do. We think there is a huge difference between – posting every single picture and milestone, to just posting an update to brighten someone’s day, connect with family, share a funny story, or just the comfort of “community” when it comes to posting about your baby. Plus who doesn’t want to see a super cute baby picture in the madness and depressing crap that we see on Facebook and Instagram all the time? We like babies more than we like crappy political posts! Balance!!
- We will put ourselves in our babies’ shoes when it comes to posting anything. Would you want to later read about every detail of medical decisions, poopie diapers, spit up, or how crazy sleep deprived your parents were because you would not stop crying, later on in life?… probably not! So we won’t do it.
- We also thinks it’s important to just be safe as opposed to sorry! A picture, a check in, a post, is just not worth it if you think it will later cause an issue or put you or your baby at risk! Pretty much along those same lines as when people post they will be out of town for a week… Probably not a good idea to tell the world your house will be empty. Just be safe!
