Parenting Life-Hacks: Avoiding The "Public-Posting Parent" Trap

Tweens are already walking through middle school as if the hallway is a live comedy roast. Every zit, voice crack, or mismatched outfit feels like global humiliation. Now imagine that same kid discovering you just uploaded their awkward school photo to your 300 Facebook friends with the caption, “My little man is growing up so fast!”

For tweens, parental posting isn’t just annoying. It’s exposure. And in the age of permanent digital footprints, what you think is cute can become what they think is social ruin.

“Posting without consent chips away at trust — and once it’s online, it never really disappears.”

AVOIDING THE TRAP

Luckily, we can stay proud without being our tweens' PR nightmare.

• Ask Before You Post. Consent matters — even at 11. A quick, “Okay if I share this?” goes a long way.

• Share Selectively. Not everything belongs online. Create private albums for family.

• Post Their Wins, Not Their Woes. Highlight achievements or things they’re proud of — not goofy accidents.

• Model Respect. Treat their image with the care you’d want for yourself.

• Keep Some Sacred. Not everything is content. The bedtime story and the meltdown don’t need captions.

• Watch Your Humor. Your inside joke could read as mockery to them.

• Future-Proof. Ask: “Will this embarrass them at 16?” If yes, skip it.

• Build Offline Traditions. Handwritten birthday letters or scrapbooks beat hashtags in the long run.

Like our parenting posters? Save or share them freely — just tag @Aparenttly.

Loss of Privacy

Choose their dignity over your timeline.

Back then: family album. Now: global billboard. One was hidden in a closet. The other lives forever

Tweens don’t see your posts as love. They see them as exposure.

Your nostalgia can become their social nightmare.

Back then, embarrassing photos lived in albums. Now, they live on the internet forever.

Go to longer version of this article

© dr. Kristijan Musek Lešnik & Aparenttly. All text and visuals are original works.

Sharing is welcomed. Reposting or reproduction without credit is not permitted. Please tag @Aparenttly when sharing.