9 Things About My Kids I Won’t Share Online

Negotiating boundaries between parent and child has always been messy. Now in the world of blogging and other social media, it's even more complicated. While online communities have become safe havens to vent the trials and tribulations of family life, they're also full of pitfalls and gray areas. After all, are you willing to risk your kid hating you after blogging about that bed-wetting incident?

As a mom who writes about her own kids, I'm still trying to figure out the best rules for playing this oft-shifting game. I'm not a child psychologist, but here are nine things I won't share about kids on the Web.

Believe me, bathroom milestones have nearly driven me to the rooftops giddy with joy. And let's face it: Potty talk is an inevitable and frequent conversation topic among parents. I am thrilled for my friends when hearing that their kids can finally take care of their own business, and I'll be the first to congratulate them. But spreading the news all over Facebook? That's another story. I'll assume most people who aren't in the trenches with us are just not interested. Like, at all.

True, an ultrasound image is a dramatic way to make the big announcement and share in-utero progress. But it's as unique and interesting as posting a photo of your big toe. Truth be told, my pregnancies pre-dated my addiction to social media, so I haven't fully tested this boundary.

RELATED: The Fetishization of the Ultrasound

While I admittedly used my kid as a prop in a local news segment—which could be an example of my outright hypocrisy—it doesn't feel right for me to plaster my site or Instagram feed with shots of my kids, at least not until they have more of a say in the matter. And, who knows? Maybe someday my boys will actually be pissed that I didn't show them off enough online in their early years.

Their bodies. Their privacy. There are too many creeps in the world. No controversy here, so let's keep moving right along, people.

Respecting other people's privacy—particularly parents of my kids' friends—is key. Facebook, I'm more OK with, if the other parents give their consent. Twitter and the rest, I'll avoid. And because someone else's mug might make it into a photo I've posted on Facebook, I make sure to check my privacy settings since those are always getting revised in increasingly confusing and opaque ways.

I learned this lesson the hard way. I once tweeted something about a grumpy plane passenger's reaction to my child, which maybe I should have kept to myself. Almost immediately, someone I'd never even met sunk her Twitter claws into it as fodder for how entitled she thinks parents are these days. Just remember to consider the blowback before hitting send/post/tweet.

RELATED: Parenting With Social Media

Don't get me wrong. I'm totally down with extended breast-feeding, de-stigmatizing all of the weird prudish issues our society projects onto the act, and supporting other breast-feeding moms. Having nursed my second child until he was almost 2 1/2 means most of my close friends and family have seen my boobs. Not everyone else needs to (not that they're asking).

My friend Sarah has awesome aliases for her four kids that she uses on her blog. She also doesn't explicitly show her children's faces either. Maybe we're being overly neurotic Nervous Nellies about our kids' privacy, but personally, this oversharing rebellion feels like a safer route if I want my kids to have fewer things to be pissed about once adolescence hits.

First of all, we're not celebrities—and neither are our children. Let's not post about them as if they are. And, at certain ages, kids already think they're the center of the universe. Add a layer of Kardashian-esque narcissistic importance and self-aggrandizing in the milieu of mommy blogs, and we're all in trouble.

MORE: Parents Get 'F' in Email Etiquette