Keeping our pictures private

My son has recently discovered how wonderful our family photo albums are.

Side note: I spend a lot of time scrapbooking our family photos, so I am ridiculously pleased that he has started appreciating them.

He and I have been looking through them in the evenings and I tell him that they are more than just pictures...they tell our family story. (I do an extensive amount of journaling in them so that we don't forget the details of the events). He reads through the pages and it has helped spark some memories for him and I both.

I am proud of the work that I do on the albums, but I wouldn't want to share them outside of immediate family and friends. However, I do know several people who use their Instagram account to chronicle the lives of their own families. This sort of online photo album brings up some heavy ethical questions - especially if you have forgotten your account is public. The biggest of those questions being: Is it OK to post pictures of your children and how will that level of exposure affect them long term?

The article on that link does a great job of diving into each of the scenarios and questions that parents should be asking themselves before they start posting pics. But, the honest answer is that none of us know how our children will react to the social media exposure they have in their early years.

My son has asked me before about my social media use and I am honest with him about what I do and don't do. I am also honest with him about the fact that he probably is on social media somewhere - showing up in a picture for a friend or a relative's event. I remind him that he will need to decide what type of social media life he will want one day and to always think before he posts anything.

Do you include pictures of your child on your Instagram account? Tell me about it in the comments.