Should Your Parents Post About You?

It happened again! Mom posted about me on Instagram—and it’s super embarrassing. I hate when she shares these terrible pictures of me without even showing me first! I know she posts about you too, so I’m thinking we should band together and ask her to stop.

Mom probably thinks her posts are sweet and harmless. I realize she’s not trying to embarrass me. Here’s the thing though: Once a photo is online, it’s basically there forever. Even if she were to delete it, someone could have already taken a screenshot and saved or uploaded it somewhere else. What if a future employer or college admissions officer googles me and finds the picture she put up of me covered in frosting at my ninth birthday party? Or worse, what if my classmates find it? I could become a meme!  

But it’s not just about the embarrassment. There are privacy and safety issues with Mom’s posts too. In school, we learned that having personal information—like your age, birthday, or school name—connected to photos can make you vulnerable to dangerous online activity. In some cases, photos of kids online have been copied to create fake profiles or used in AI-generated images.  

And sure, I know Mom’s account is private, but she’s had it forever. Does she even know who all her followers are at this point? One of her “friends” could be someone she met briefly at a work event or an acquaintance she doesn’t actually know anymore. I don’t want random people looking at photos of me! 

I know Mom means well. She’s proud of us and wants to share our growth and accomplishments. But we never post photos of Mom, especially not embarrassing ones and especially not without her permission. Shouldn’t she show us the same consideration? A photo that makes her smile might make me cringe—or worse, might follow me for years. People grow up, but the internet never forgets

I totally understand where you’re coming from. Mom has posted mortifying photos of me too! But I don’t think it’s fair to tell her to stop posting about us altogether. 

Posting pictures of us makes Mom happy. She does it because she’s excited to share our milestones, not because she wants to embarrass us. Those birthday collages and “first day of school” photos? That’s her way of saying, “Look at my amazing kids.” For Mom, social media is like a digital scrapbook—a place to keep and treasure her favorite memories. You know all those photo albums Grandma has in her basement? That’s what Mom’s Instagram is like for her. 

Still, you’re right that there are some privacy concerns. But I think with some adjustments, Mom could make her posts safer. Remember, she didn’t grow up with social media like we did. We might need to tell her that it’s easier than ever to track a person down with even a little information, and that’s why many parents are already changing the way they share online: posting fewer pictures, turning off location tags, not including personal details like school names, limiting their followers. Mom could do the same.

There are other changes she could make too. For one thing, she could start asking before she posts. That way, we get some control over what’s out there. You could also ask her to consider a few things before she adds to her grid—for instance, whether she’d be uncomfortable if someone posted a similar photo of her. 

With these compromises, we can protect our privacy and let Mom show how proud she is of us.