When does sharing details about your children online cross the line into oversharing? How do older kids, who grew up with their parents’ blogs and social media, feel about having their childhoods shared publicly? Lately many of us have become more careful about what we post, and in this episode we explore “sharenting” and why we’ve chosen to scale back. We also spoke with four other bloggers—Erin Loechner, Myquillyn Smith, Cassie Freeman, and Joy Cho—about how they decide what’s appropriate to share. It was enlightening to hear how each of them approaches this issue, where they set boundaries for their families, and the moments when they realized they’d gone too far.
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Guests
- Erin Loechner
- Erin writes about the balance between family privacy and blogging. She’s shared her perspective in a post titled “The Line” and is the author of the book Chasing Slow.
- Follow her work and reflections on family, creativity, and intentional living on her blog and social channels.
- Joy Cho
- Joy shares vibrant lifestyle and design content and has spoken previously about how setbacks shaped her career. Her thoughtful approach to family and work informed our conversation about boundaries online.
- Myquillyn Smith
- Known as “The Nester,” Myquillyn writes about making homes comfortable and authentic. Her outlook—that homes don’t have to be perfect to be beautiful—also informs how she navigates sharing family life online.
- Cassie Freeman
- Cassie creates content about colorful, lived-in spaces and family life. We discussed how her aesthetic and priorities influence what she posts about her kids.
Additional Reading
Below are posts and articles that have been helpful as we continue to consider where to draw the line:
- Katie Bower wrote about responding to criticism and framing the sharing of her kids as a way to celebrate them.
- Nicole Balch reflected on why she planned to share less as her children grew older, offering a thoughtful perspective on long-term choices about family content.
- Wellness Mama published a piece explaining her decision not to post about her children and the reactions she’s faced for that choice.
- A New York Times essay recounts the phone call that changed one writer’s view on writing about her children.
- An NPR article examines whether parents invade children’s privacy when posting photos online and presents viewpoints from both sides of the issue.
- The Guardian outlined pros and cons of “sharenting” and concluded with practical tips for parents.
- PBS Parents asked whether we reveal too much about our kids online and offered actionable advice.
- TIME summarized recommendations from pediatricians advising parents to think twice before posting about their children.
There are many other resources on the topic of sharenting. If you know of a helpful article or have written about this subject yourself, we’d love to hear about it on social media.
Below is the “Stay at Home Dad” meme we mentioned during our chat with Joy. That’s me in the upper left (pre-beard).
Finally, thank you to Grove Collaborative for sponsoring this episode. They offered a promotion during the episode for first-time orders; please note promotions may change over time.
Thanks for listening!