How to (kindly) ask people not to post your kids' photos on social media

"Kim, I don't want pictures of my kids on social media. How do I tell friends and family not to post them without sounding preachy?"

Save yourself an awkward situation by telling people before a big get-together. Most folks mean well, but they might not know the risks of sharing kids' photos online, especially if they're not parents themselves. 

I wrote up an example you can copy:

"Hey, I wanted to let you know ahead of time we'd like to keep photos of the kids off the internet for privacy and safety reasons. (We saw some stories that really spooked us!) If you could avoid putting pics of them on social media, we'd really appreciate it!"

Don't panic. Reach out ASAP and ask them to remove it with a link to the specific post. I'd go with a text. A comment on a public post feels like you're calling them out.

Use this: "Hey, I totally forgot to mention this, but we're keeping pictures of the kids offline for now. Could you take this post down or repost it with their faces hidden? An emoji works great! 

Not sharing photos of your kids publicly doesn't have to mean not sharing at all. My suggestion: Make an invite-only album for close family and friends. 

Final step: Make sure the Link Sharing toggle is off for maximum privacy, so only invited users can view the album.

Now create and share your album.

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