Content creation has been something that I have wanted to do for a long time. However, I am very private about my life. I do not care for anyone’s opinions or for anyone to develop a weird parasocial relationship with me. All I want to do is post my content and go, that’s it. When I learned that I was pregnant with my daughter, I knew that I wanted to share my story and share my journey. I wanted women to see that it is possible to have a child on your own without being a “baby momma” or a married single mother. But what I didn’t want to do was make mommy content that is completely centered around my child.
If you look on my social media, you will find that my daughter does not have a social media presence. My first parenting decision I made was to protect my child’s identity and privacy. Children are subjected to the actions of the adults around them and cannot consent to how their information and images are shared. I made the choice not to post my child’s name, images, or any other personal information online. Until she is of age to consent to me sharing things about her, I will not share, but if she gives me permission to I will. At any point that I make posts on this blog and she does not like the post, out of respect for my child I will delete it.
My daughter is a beautiful child, she is like a little doll baby, and she captivates the hearts of many just by being herself. She is silly, intelligent, and loves animals. Every single day she makes the world brand new and I enjoy exploring it with her. My sweet baby is precious to me and I want to protect her from predators, mean spirited people, and my toxic family who still tries to keep tabs on me via stalking and other methods of harassment. I come from a dysfunctional family system that does not respect your right to privacy, your boundaries, or children. As the one who left the family to break the toxic cycle, I want my child to see that I care about past, present, and future her. I want to give her the right to her own information and images. I will never share things about her that I do not want shared about myself.
As a content creator who does not share her child’s image on social media platforms, I am taking a risk. I am risking my growth, my monetary gain, and access to things that family and mommy bloggers get. Yes it would be nice to attend those creator meet ups sponsored by Disney. It would be amazing to receive toys from Little Tikes, Mattel, and a car seat from Baby Ark, but her right to privacy is worth far more than any of those perks. Not sharing her does make my content a little more challenging because it is not child centered. My content primarily centers my experiences as a mother. I may share a few monumental moments and funny stories here and there; but I will not be using personal and private experiences of hers for my content.
I have seen first hand the dangers of posting your children on social media simply by scrolling on TikTok. I have seen people go to extreme lengths to find out where children and their families live, releasing their personal information, and jealous people calling CPS on families. I have seen adults bully children behind a screen and people make think pieces on kids that they are not raising. My child is mine and she belongs to me. The best thing I can do for the mental health of my family and myself is by not posting her or her siblings. I want to address social media etiquette, dealing with bullies, and protecting your peace, when it is appropriate to do so. I want to have those conversations at home before I send her out into the world and allow her to use social media. Her first experience with social media needs to be at a time where she is old enough to comprehend content consumption and dealing with people online.
With that being said, I want to close this out with saying thank you. Thank you for supporting me by reading, sharing, and interacting with my posts. Thank you for allowing me to show up as myself without having to compromise anything. And thank you for respecting my choices regarding my child and my boundaries.