Parents these days are almost always on Facebook. Unlike teens who post their social life on social media, however, their posts are usually about home life --- many pointed toward toddler tantrums.
These posts are made by parents for all their friends and family to see, and many of them show their child throwing tantrums. While they are likely posting these photos and videos in the hope of finding camaraderie with other parents going through the same difficulties, not everyone can agree about the possible benefits of doing such thing. Misery may love its company, but that shouldn't be the case when it's at the expense of fragile children.
Today's #toddlertantrum is brought to you by not being allowed to play with AA batteries.
Posted by Modian Thiessen on Tuesday, 15 March 2016
Parents have been posting plenty about these meltdowns, too. Today's Parent blogger Tara-Michelle Ziniuk admitted that she had been an over-sharer on her Facebook and Instagram in the past. However, she realized that as an adult, she still refuses to post about the bad things like struggling with her bank statements, rejection letters, and medication bottles. She then came to the conclusion that adults need boundaries, but children, even more so.
While parents turn to social media as a form of lifeline to other adults, posting about children mid-breakdown, in a way, is a violation of their trust -- after all, toddlers are essentially little people with big feelings, and these feelings should always be taken into consideration at their age.
The Huffington Post also noted that parents are supposed to build children up, comfort them, not tear them down. Many learning moments in life -- especially the more difficult ones -- deserve to be treated with respect and given privacy. Most of all, as grown-ups who don't want their failures posted for everyone to see, no child -- toddler or teen -- should have anyone see their own less-than-flattering moments posted either.
In fact, most children, especially older ones prefer not to have their parents post about themon social media. A recent research from the University of Washington and the University of Michigan, as cited The New York Times revealed "a really interesting disconnect" when it comes to rules on social media use. Head of research Alexis Hiniker said children ages 10 to 17 are concerned about how their parents post about their lives online -- and for good reason.
Children are still going through a lot of things without the entire world judging them through their parents' social media accounts. That being said, a parent's need to share on social media should never weigh more than a their desire to respect her own child's privacy.
