Sometimes boomers have some trouble understanding online etiquette. When it comes to sharing photos and videos of your child, in particular, it’s important to set up guidelines before sharing any content of your sweet little one, though sometimes those rules aren’t always followed.
In one case, after having their first child about six months ago, one family decided they would not post any images or videos on their social media channels and asked their extended family to do the same. “We decided as parents that we want our child to be able to create his own online identity when he’s old enough to understand the ramifications,” one mom explained on Reddit’s “Am I The A**hole column.
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However, the new mom’s mother-in-law wasn’t quite so understanding about their decision. “We explained this to our parents, siblings, and close friends who have regular contact with our baby and have asked them kindly to please not post about our baby on social media either,” the mom went on to explain in her Reddit post.
“Everyone respected our decision except my [mother-in-law] who thinks it’s silly to try and control what information is posted about our baby.” The mom continued that her mother-in-law lives far away from them so she and her husband send photos regularly to keep her up-to-date.
However, the mother-in-law regularly posts the photos that are shared with her on her own social media channels, much to the frustration of the poster. The new parents have asked the excited grandmother to take them down each time she posts a photo which leads to an argument.
The mom wrote that her mother-in-law says they’re “ruining the joy of being a grandma” by asking her to take down the images. After many arguments around the issue, the parents told her that if she continues to post the pictures, they will no longer send them.
The poster noted that they don’t have any problem with the grandmother sharing images “by text or email or whatever to her friends and other family members,” but they do not want the images shared on social.
Mother-In-Law Won’t Stop Sharing Photos of New Grandchild Despite Parents Asking Her Not To
“She’s otherwise a loving and devoted grandma, and I would never want to deprive my child of a relationship with her,” she wrote on Reddit. “But I feel strongly about our social media moratorium, and I don’t want to budge on this. AITA?”
Commenters overwhelmingly sided with the poster, with some noting that the grandmother was the “biggest baby in this narrative” for not excepting the parents’ decision. “It doesn’t matter if she likes your rule or not, it’s your decision to make and it is just a matter of course that you’re supposed to ask a child’s parents for permission before you post pictures of them,” one person said.
“That’s YOUR baby, and you have the final say in anything that involved him. If your MIL can’t respect your wishes, then those are the consequences,” another wrote. A few commenters, though, noted that the mom should move past it and let the grandmother post if she wanted.
“We live in a social media-driven world. Times change and people with them,” said one commenter.