6 Photos of Your Child you Should Not Post on Social Media

These days everything is documented on social media. As lovely as it is to share photos of yourself and your family on social media, some moments should remain private. Otherwise, you run the risk of embarrassment, or making your little ones potential targets for sexual predators.

We suggest keeping these kinds of photos of your children off the Internet:

• Shaming photos

As parents, you might think that its cute to share some embarrassing photos of children, like when they poo or pee as little children. Often times parents forget that this might have a longer lasting effect on the children, they eventually grow up and become more internet savvy, and see such photos, which can be damaging to their self esteem. To prevent this from happening, avoid posting shaming photos of your children on social media.

• Bath time

As sad and scary as it sounds, any photo of your child partially or completely naked, like while he is bathing, might fall into the hands of sexual predators and child pornographers. This is not a taboo anymore in Nigeria again as everyday, news of little girls and boys being raped are all over the news. Nude pictures of your child are not for public consumption.

• Private details

The Internet is easily accessible to anyone anywhere. You can keep your children safe by never sharing their full names, addresses, where they go to school, if you left them alone for a trip with a help, etc online. You don’t know who might use this information for purposes other than what was intended.

• Group pictures

If you still decide to post pictures of your child, that is okay, it is however not okay to make the decision for other parents. Not everybody is comfortable with their children’s pictures being taken or shared on the Internet. If your child is in a group photo, you might want to consider cropping the picture or getting permission from parents before doing that.

• Weaknesses

A picture exposing a weakness, fear or maybe a silly nickname could humiliate your child and have repercussions on his social life. Being taunted lovingly by family also can have negative impacts on your child much later in their lives and also give room for bullying at school and among peers.

•  Unsafe activities