What Is Sharenting? Risks and Safer Ways to Share
Sharing your child’s milestones feels natural. But every photo builds a digital footprint your child did not choose, so a few habits go a long way.
By Siddharth ShankarUpdated October 18, 2026Sharenting is when parents share photos, videos and details about their children online. The risks include revealing a child’s school, home or routine, photos being copied and reused, and a lasting digital footprint before the child can consent. Use the strictest privacy settings, avoid uniforms and locations, remove photo location data, share privately where you can and ask older children before posting.
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The word sharenting combines sharing and parenting. It describes the everyday habit of posting about children online, from first steps to school plays. Most parents do it with love and good intentions. The issue is that children grow up with a public record they had no say in.
Why it matters
Australia’s online safety regulator, eSafety, notes that by the age of five there can be up to 1,000 photos of a child online. That is a large footprint before a child can read.
The main risks
- Location: photos can reveal where a child lives, goes to school or spends time, through landmarks, uniforms or location tags.
- Routines: posting schedules for clubs or school runs shows when and where a child will be.
- Copying and misuse: eSafety warns photos can be copied or harvested from social media and used in ways families never intended.
- A permanent record: embarrassing moments can follow a child into school, university and job searches. See digital footprints for students.
- Identity details: a full name, date of birth and school can help someone impersonate a child later.
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Safer ways to share
1Use the strictest privacy settings
Share with people you know and trust, and review your friends list regularly. eSafety notes that a friend’s reaction can show a photo to their friends too.
2Leave out identifying details
Avoid full names, school or club uniforms, street names and features of your home.
3Remove location data
Photos can contain time and GPS data. Turn off camera location or remove it when sharing. See how photos reveal your location.
4Do not post routines
Share after an event, not before or during, and avoid regular schedules.
5Share privately
Family group chats, private albums or email reach the same people without a public trail.
6Ask your child
eSafety suggests asking for your child’s OK, explaining who will see the photo and respecting a no.
What children say about it
As children grow older, many feel strongly about what was posted about them. Asking before you post builds trust and teaches them to ask others before sharing photos too. It also gives them a say in their own digital footprint.
Settings worth checking today
- Who can see your past posts and photo albums.
- Who can tag you, and whether tags need approval.
- Whether your posts are visible to friends of friends.
- Whether location is added to posts automatically.
Grandparents and relatives
Many families now keep a shared private album for children’s photos instead of posting them publicly. Everyone who matters can see them, and nothing ends up indexed by search engines or scraped by strangers.
Relatives often share family photos publicly with good intentions. A friendly conversation about where photos go and who can see them helps everyone follow the same rules, especially for children’s school and activity photos.
Photos from schools and clubs
Schools and clubs usually have a photography or social media policy. Read it, tell them your preferences and ask how photos of your child will be shared before events, not after.
Cleaning up what is already online
Go back through old public posts and change their audience or delete the ones that reveal too much. On Facebook, Limit Past Posts changes old public posts to Friends in one step. See how to make Facebook private and how to make Instagram private.
For a wider view of children’s privacy, read our parents’ guide to children’s digital footprints.
Sources
- eSafety Commissioner: Privacy and your child (risks, 1,000 photos by age 5, safer sharing tips)
Frequently asked questions
What does sharenting mean?
Parents sharing photos, videos or information about their children online.
Is sharenting harmful?
Not always, but it can reveal a child’s location and routine, and create a lasting digital footprint without their consent.
Should I post my child’s school photos?
Avoid photos that show the school name, uniform or location, or share them privately instead.
Do photos really contain location?
They can. Phones may store GPS data in the photo file unless location is turned off.
At what age should I ask my child before posting?
As soon as they can understand. eSafety suggests asking for their OK and respecting their answer.
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