The first day of school. The birthday party. The tantrum. The school uniform with the badge clearly visible.
Sharing these moments can feel harmless. Social media has become the modern family photo album.
But every post contributes to something your child may never have agreed to: a permanent digital identity.
This is known as sharenting — parents regularly sharing photos, videos and personal information about their children online.
And the risks go far beyond privacy.
Your child has a digital footprint before they can speak
A few posts can reveal far more than parents realise:
- Full name and birthday
- School and sports clubs
- Home neighbourhood
- Friends and relatives
- Regular routines and locations
- Medical or behavioural information
- Embarrassing personal moments
Once something is online, you lose control over it. Photos can be downloaded, copied, edited, shared or used to create AI-generated images.
Deleting your post doesn’t necessarily delete the copies.
The physical safety risks are real
A photo of your child in their school uniform. A birthday post revealing their age. A check-in at their Saturday sports club.
Individually, these may seem harmless.
Together, they can tell a stranger who your child is, where they go and when they are likely to be there.
Research has linked excessive sharenting with greater exposure to online victimisation and misuse of children’s personal information.
There is another uncomfortable risk.
Research examining thousands of TikTok videos featuring children found increased appearance-focused attention when children appeared in swimwear or revealing clothing.
A photograph intended for friends and family may reach a very different audience.
Then there is AI
Generative AI has introduced another risk parents didn’t have to consider a few years ago.
A child’s photograph can now potentially be manipulated into convincing fake content.
You don’t need hundreds of photographs to create a problem. A clear image may be enough to be copied, altered or incorporated into AI-generated material without either the parent or child ever knowing.
What happens when they grow up?
There is also an emotional cost.
Imagine reaching your teenage years and discovering that your childhood illnesses, tantrums, toilet training, embarrassing moments and family stories are searchable online.
Children may experience embarrassment, bullying, loss of privacy and resentment towards parents who shared personal moments without their consent.
The issue becomes particularly serious with family influencers, where children’s lives can effectively become content because posts featuring them generate engagement and income.
The child may never have meaningfully consented to any of it.
Before you post, ask five questions
1. Would my child be comfortable seeing this at 16?
2. Does it reveal where they live, learn or spend time?
3. Does it reveal identifying information?
4. Could this photograph be misused, copied or manipulated?
5. Does this really need to be public?
If you’re uncomfortable with any of the answers, don’t post it.
You don’t have to stop sharing
You can still celebrate your children online. Just share more carefully.
Avoid school badges, locations and identifiable routines. Keep birthdays and personal information private. Don’t post embarrassing or intimate moments. Ask older children before sharing their photographs. And consider sending family photos privately rather than publishing them.
Most importantly, remember that privacy settings reduce exposure. They don’t guarantee privacy.
Your child only gets one childhood
Take the photographs. Keep the memories. Share special moments with the people you love.
But your child’s childhood does not need to become public content.
They deserve the opportunity to decide what their future digital identity looks like — rather than discovering that it was created for them before they were old enough to choose.