Why I'll never post photos of my kids online (even with their consent)

There is a long list of things I won't claim I'm going to do as a parent before becoming one. Parenthood is an impossible experience to understand unless you've been one.

Posting photos of my kids on social media is my one exception. It's the one thing I don't plan on changing my perspective on if I'm ever lucky enough to have children of my own.

Of course the safety of my family and the people I love most is the number-one priority in situations like this. But it's not the only reason I'll stick to offline group chats to share photos with my family and friends.

I've witnessed a lot of questionable parenting, online and off. I think we all have. And there's no doubt I'll make hundreds upon hundreds of mistakes when raising my kids (no one really knows what they're doing, after all). But one mistake I will never make is in any way leading my kids to ever feel as though they are valued more as content than as human beings.

My dog has over 1,000 followers on TikTok. I feel no guilt about this because she is a dog. I spend maybe 30 seconds a day filming her begging for human food in the middle of the kitchen. The rest of the time we're just entertaining each other. She's a Siberian Husky -- they're a little weird (said with love).

But children are people. Eventually they will venture out into the real world and discover that other kids are cruel, cyberbullying exists, online mutuals are not always trustworthy real-life friends. When they're old enough for social media, they will make their own discoveries and mistakes. They might even choose to post photos of themselves on their own accounts. This might lead them to believe, at least partially, that they are most valuable when they are creating content.

And that will be quite difficult to watch, as their parent.

But when they are still too young to navigate all that (and before they are old enough to understand internet safety and why it matters), I have no plans to post their faces online, name them in posts or even talk about them personally on my own profiles (aside from the typical "my kid did something I'm proud of" posts that will embarrass but not endanger them years later).

Children are not content. They should never be made to believe "content" is something they can be, something that can define who they are. Children are not viral TikTok trends, they are not influencers. They are humans who are just learning what it means to be alive.

Parents cannot protect their kids from everything, nor should they control every aspect of their lives. There will come a point where they will be old enough to make their own choices and, as a parent, it will be up to me to allow them to make choices as long as they are safe and happy.

But you'll never see photos of my young kids online. And why would you want to when my Siberian Husky is right there demanding all the attention as usual?