Social media has now become one of our most important journals. We keep our treasured memories there, and even share them with a community of strangers.
Privacy settings on our individual profiles have slowly been put away. The more the followers, the better, despite whether you know them or not.
We should, in turn, come up with measures of ensuring that we censor what we put on our social media profiles. We have chosen to be on social media, but our young ones have not made the choice to live their lives in the public eye.
Here is a list of the kind of information we should not post on social media for the world to see.
1) School details
Posting pictures of your child in their school uniform or when in school is not safe. Anyone who would have intentions of kidnapping your child would easily pick them up from school after coming up with a lie. Kidnappers can also pry on them during school trips or worse still, trail the school bus and kidnap your kid right before he/she gets into the house after being dropped off at home.
2) Your child’s fears
Do not go on social media to make lame jokes about your child's fears. Some people could use their worst nightmares to bully them. For example, making fun of how your child does not eat chips because they are overweight could get them bullied in school. Sharing too much information on social media could be detrimental.
3) Embarrassing moments
For example, posting pictures of your child when they are naked or when bathing could be detrimental since those pictures can haunt them when they grow up. They will not remain kids forever and if such details are dug out once they become grown-ups, it might not auger well with them. Those are moments to be kept at home. If you decide to take such pictures, keep them private and only use them for their future reference.
4) Names
A child tends to warm up to someone who recognizes them. If someone calls out their name, but they do not recognize them, they might approach them thinking that maybe it is a friend to their parents. That is how most kidnappings happen, only because a parent exposed their child to such risks by putting up pictures and names on social media.
This article was first published on Exciting Parenting.