Grandma Thinks She Can Post Whatever She Wants About Your Kids. Therapists Disagree.

“Grandparents want to share, and it’s natural, but sometimes they aren’t thinking things through.”

On Assignment For HuffPost

Back when today’s current crop of grandparents were adorable babies themselves, their grandmothers carried around something called “Grannie’s Brag Book,” which was stored in grandma’s capacious pocketbook.

With even the slightest encouragement, grandma would pull out the book, which included all the latest family snapshots.

She’d share those pictures in the line at the grocery store, at post-worship coffee fellowship or at the beauty parlour – and expect her audience to coo admiringly over her adorable grandchildren.

Times have changed, but grandmas still want to tout the wonders of their family’s next generation. And that’s where the problems can start.

Beginning in 2006, when Facebook launched to the general public, grandparents were handed a platform that allowed just as much bragging potential as the books, but with a far wider reach than they’d ever had before.

Who needed the line at the grocery store when those adorable grandkid shots could be shared with every acquaintance she’d ever had?

There was a time when the internet seemed like just a big “brag book”. Not anymore.

The early years of Facebook certainly were a more innocent time, and perhaps a stupider one, too. Now that we know the dangers of the internet, we’re aware of the harm that posting photos of children online can cause. Anyone, including child predators, can collect posted images, some that even include geolocation data on where the child lives or attends school.

Modern kids often have a digital footprint that begins when they’re born. It’s been estimated that a child born today will be in almost 1,000 online photos by the age of five.

And while many child development experts and ethicists say that kids are the only ones with a legitimate right to their own stories and images, that can be a tough concept for some doting grandparents to grasp.

“Twenty years ago, I shared pictures of my own children on Facebook, so relatives who live around the world could see them and comment,” said Kimberly Bepler, who is also a “grandparent doula” for new grandparents.

“I never thought,........

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