Sharing photos of your children on social media — often called “sharenting” — feels totally natural in our digitally connected world.
If anyone knows how tempting it is to share our kids’ hysterical, adorable, or unreal moments with our entire social networks, it’s us, the parents.
Sharing photos is a way to celebrate milestones, seek advice, or connect with distant family. But experts and parents increasingly warn that these innocent posts can create lasting risks, from privacy breaches to exploitation. By the time a child turns 13, parents may have shared around 1,300 photos or videos of them online.
Once posted, these images are hard to fully erase due to screenshots, shares, and platform algorithms. Below, I’ll outline specific types of photos (and details) to avoid, backed by common concerns from child safety advocates, cybersecurity pros, and real parent experiences.
Types of Photos and Details to Avoid Posting
Here’s a breakdown of problematic shares, why they’re risky, and safer alternatives. This isn’t about shaming — it’s about empowering you to protect your kids’ digital footprint.
With regard to location or other revealing shots try to avoid grabbing photos of your kids in front of your house (address visible), at school gates, or playgrounds with identifiable landmarks. Sharing photos taken in front of your home or school can establish potential routines, enabling stalking or harassment. Predators can piece together patterns from multiple posts. You can always crop out backgrounds and even use private family albums (e.g., iCloud shared folders) for close relatives only.
Birthdays and various other milestones can expose birth dates, ages, and locations, fueling identity theft — kids’ clean credit histories make them prime targets for fraudulent accounts. Try to avoid the public images of party photos with the cake showing age, or “1st birthday at [venue]” captions. Try to share the milestone verbally or via encrypted messages; avoid public dates/names.
Full-face close-ups can feed facial recognition tech and AI tools that generate deepfakes or explicit content (even from clothed images). Platforms own rights to redistribute your uploads like smiling portraits, sleeping babies, or family selfies showing clear faces for example. Try using emojis/stickers over faces, back/silhouette views, or no-face shots (e.g., feet in sand).
School or uniform shared photos can identify education details, making bullying or targeted approaches easier. Uniforms can tag routines like bus stops. Avoid grabbing shots of your kids in school clothes, backpack, or with classmates surrounded by identifiable settings. You should wait for consent (around age 6-8) and post their photos only if they agree; otherwise, skip.
Embarrassing or vulnerable moments can violate future consent — kids may cringe at tantrums, potty training, or messes immortalized online. These can lead to “digital kidnapping” where images are stolen and repurposed as someone else’s child. These would be things like bath time, meltdowns, or “adorable fails” like food-smeared faces for instance. Keep private journals or printed albums; discuss boundaries with your kids as they grow.
Be cautious of group photos with unvetted people. These can expose your kid alongside others without permission; others might re-post publicly. Situations like this often involve family events where faces aren’t blurred, or playdates with non-close friends’ kids. You might do well to ask permission from all of the parents; blur non-family faces or share one-on-one.
These risks of sharing photos aren’t hypothetical: Australian officials once uncovered 45 million child images (mostly from social media) in predator caches with many innocent play shots. AI now amplifies threats, turning family dinners into source material for harmful edits.
Broader Risks of Sharenting
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- Predator Access: Even private accounts aren’t foolproof — followers can screenshot and share. Cybersecurity experts note metadata (like GPS tags) embeds location data automatically.
- Identity Theft & Long-Term Harm: Oversharing builds profiles for fraud; one expert advises a “holiday card-or-less” rule — minimal, non-identifying updates.
- Consent & Emotional Impact: Kids can’t opt out young, leading to anxiety over “cringy” teen discoveries. Many parents regret it and delete archives.
- Platform Exploitation: Social media terms grant companies rights to your content forever, potentially for ads or training AI.
Tips for Safer Sharing
If you still want to share (totally valid!), prioritize privacy:
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- Go Private/Minimalist: Limit to close circles; use invite-only apps like Tinybeans for family-only access.
- Tech Tweaks: Disable location services, facial recognition, and auto-uploads. Set Google Alerts for your kid’s name.
- Family Buy-In: Announce boundaries at birth (e.g., “No shares, please—we’re keeping it offline”) and remind gently. Cover faces in group shots.
- Involve Your Kids: Start consent talks early; let them curate as teens.
- Offline Joy: Print photos for albums or host in-person shares — validation from likes isn’t worth the vulnerability.
Ultimately, it’s your call, but erring on the side of caution gives kids agency over their story. As one parent put it: “She didn’t choose social media — I did.” If you’re rethinking past posts, tools like Instagram’s “Download Your Data” can help you to audit and delete.
I’m pretty sure that in the future, your kids will thank you for the protected space to grow up offline.




The life and death of Charlie Kirk
Charlie Kirk (Charles James Kirk) was born on October 14, 1993 in Arlington Heights, Illinois. He was a producer and writer, known for Identity Crisis (2025), Border Battle (2022) and Race War.
Early Life and Education
He grew up in nearby Prospect Heights in a middle-class family. His father was an architect specializing in luxury estates, while his mother worked as a trader at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange before transitioning to mental health counseling.
Kirk attended Wheeling High School, where classmates later described him as “rude,” “arrogant,” and possessing a “superiority complex,” though he was politically active from a young age, inspired by conservative figures like Ronald Reagan. A self-described “Reagan-loving schoolboy,” Kirk skipped college after one semester at Harper College, opting instead to pursue activism full-time.
Rise in Conservative Activism
Kirk’s political career ignited in high school when, at age 18, he co-founded Turning Point USA (TPUSA) in 2012 with Bill Montgomery. The nonprofit aimed to mobilize young conservatives on college campuses, promoting free-market principles and countering what Kirk called “leftist indoctrination.” Under his leadership as executive director and CEO, TPUSA grew rapidly, establishing over 3,000 chapters by 2025 and raising millions in funding from donors like the Koch brothers and Foster Friess. Kirk’s “Professor Watchlist,” launched in 2016, targeted academics accused of liberal bias, drawing both praise from the right and criticism for stifling free speech.
He became a key ally of Donald Trump during the 2016 election, organizing voter turnout among young Republicans and befriending Donald Trump Jr. Kirk spoke at the Republican National Convention that year and played a role in Trump’s 2020 campaign through TPUSA’s Turning Point Action arm, a dark-money group that funneled resources to pro-Trump efforts. His influence extended to events like the January 6, 2021, Capitol rally, where TPUSA was accused (though denied) of funding bus travel for attendees. Critics, including some conservatives, labeled Kirk an “anti-Semite” due to associations with figures like Milo Yiannopoulos and events that attracted alt-right crowds post-Charlottesville.
Media Career and Influence
By his mid-20s, Charlie Kirk had become a media powerhouse. In October 2020, he launched The Charlie Kirk Show, a daily three-hour radio program syndicated on Salem Media Group’s “The Answer” network. The podcast surged in popularity, reaching 500,000–750,000 daily downloads in 2024 and ranking as the 21st-most popular on Apple Podcasts by late 2021. His “Turning Point Live” streaming show targeted Generation Z, amassing 111,000 monthly unique visitors by 2021.
Kirk authored several books, including Time for a Turning Point (2016) and The MAGA Doctrine (2023), blending conservative policy critiques with calls for Christian nationalism. He produced documentaries like Identity Crisis (2025) and Border Battle (2022), focusing on election integrity and immigration. By 2025, Kirk was a millionaire, with TPUSA’s annual revenue exceeding $100 million, and he was seen as Trump’s “ambassador to youthful conservatives.” His campus tours, like the “American Comeback Tour,” often sparked protests but amplified his reach.
Personal Life
Kirk married Erika Frantzve, a former Miss Arizona USA and collegiate basketball player pursuing a doctorate in Biblical studies at Liberty University, in 2021. The couple had two young children: a son (born May 2024) and a daughter (born August 2022). Erika often appeared alongside Kirk at events, and they shared glimpses of family life on social media, emphasizing faith and patriotism. Kirk was a devout Christian, frequently invoking the Gospel in his rhetoric.
Assassination and Immediate Aftermath
On September 10, 2025, at age 31, Kirk was fatally shot during a TPUSA speaking event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, as part of his “American Comeback Tour.” The assailant, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson — a Utah resident with no prior public political ties — fired a long rifle round from atop a nearby building, striking Kirk in the chest and neck. Kirk was pronounced dead at the scene despite immediate medical intervention. Robinson fled but surrendered peacefully two days later on September 12, after confessing in text messages to a roommate and expressing fear of police retaliation. DNA evidence and planning texts linked him to the crime; prosecutors charged him with capital murder, citing aggravating factors like endangering bystanders, and announced plans to seek the death penalty — Utah’s first potential execution in over 15 years.
The FBI offered a $100,000 reward during the manhunt and released images of Robinson as a person of interest. President Trump, a close ally, mourned Kirk on Truth Social as “the Great, and even Legendary” voice of American youth, announcing a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom and plans to attend his Arizona funeral. Vigils sprang up nationwide, from Utah campuses to Illinois parks, with American flags and candles honoring Kirk.
Broader Impact and Legacy
Charlie Kirk’s assassination on September 10, 2025, cemented his status as a polarizing figure in American politics, amplifying both his influence and the controversies surrounding him. For supporters, Kirk was a martyr for conservative values, galvanizing a new generation of activists. Turning Point USA saw a surge in engagement, with 37,000 new chapter requests, his books topping Amazon charts, and The Charlie Kirk Show podcast hitting number one on Apple Podcasts. Conservative leaders, including Donald Trump, hailed him as a patriotic voice for youth, awarding him a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom. Vigils and tributes across the U.S., from Utah to Illinois, underscored his role in mobilizing young Republicans and promoting free-market principles and Christian values.
Critics, however, viewed Kirk’s legacy through a more critical lens, pointing to his divisive rhetoric and associations with controversial figures. Outlets like The Nation and The New Republic highlighted his ties to Christian nationalism, his role in events attracting alt-right elements, and statements critics labeled as inflammatory on issues like race, immigration, and LGBTQ+ rights. They argued his “Professor Watchlist” and campus confrontations stifled academic freedom, while his proximity to figures like Milo Yiannopoulos and events post-Charlottesville raised questions about enabling extremism. Some saw his death as a tragic consequence of the polarized climate he helped fuel, though they condemned the violence unequivocally.
Both sides acknowledged Kirk’s outsized impact. His ability to blend media savvy, grassroots organizing, and proximity to power — evident in his Trump alliance and TPUSA’s $100 million operation — reshaped conservative youth activism. Yet, his death also sparked broader debates about political discourse, free speech, and the risks of radicalization in a divided nation. Supporters launched initiatives like the “Charlie Kirk Data Foundation” to honor his mission, while critics called for reflection on the consequences of inflammatory rhetoric. Kirk’s life and death thus left a dual legacy: a rallying cry for the right and a cautionary tale for those seeking to bridge America’s deepening divides.