Why You Don’t See My Boys Faces on the Blog
This is the 13th post in The Blog Backstage series about the Who, What, Where, When, Why and How behind Honestly Modern. Periodically, I share a peek behind the scenes about how and why all the magic happens to bring Honestly Modern to life.
Update: After writing this post, M and I decided that we were comfortable sharing a bit more about the boys. I still don’t share much about M, and I don’t share too many details about the boys. You see their faces occasionally when it’s relevant, but I’m still diligent about not sharing photos that might be embarrassing or reveal too many details. I typically ask myself “would they care if their friends see this in ten years when they are in the throes of high school?” If I can safely answer that it would not be embarrassing, I consider it benign enough for posting. As my boys get older, I will let them decide what silly or crazy parts of their character they want to share with the online world.
Four years ago when I started this blog, M and I agreed that I would never show his face or the boys’ faces on the blog or public social media. He has little interest in being on the internet, and we both agreed it was only fair to protect the privacy of the boys until they were old enough to decide for themselves what they wanted the world to see.
I share an occasional glimpse of M and tell relevant stories about the boys, but it’s all pretty benign and nothing they will be embarrassed to tell their friends in high school.
I know many other social media influencers have vastly different perspectives on this matter.
We have a rule in our family, however, that the boys have heard me repeat a million times, and they will most certainly hear another billion times in their lives.
Different families have different rules.
It doesn’t matter why. Neither family is more right or wrong. I don’t justify why our rules are better or different than theirs. It’s just a fact we accept at face value and about which we don’t argue.
This isn’t a perfect line of defense against the ever present “but why does he get to do it” whine. When used with consistency though, it’s proven surprisingly effective for us.
This applies to my thoughts on social media sharing policies as well. Other bloggers and influencers share about their families differently. I don’t believe their way or my way or another way is best. What’s best is what works for each of them.
For us, we maintain strict rules about not sharing enough information on the blog or related social media spaces about the three boys with whom I live to make them easily recognizable by readers if crossing paths on a city street, for example.
Never say never, of course. Someday you may see someone’s face, but it won’t be anytime soon.
