these parents who “post” their children on social networks

On knows since the beginning of the XXI^e century that while he’s not socially encouraged to spill into dinner parties with his hits, real estate deals, or vacation destinations, it’s of course tolerated to do so on social media. They have also become the place where you can flatter yourself with the accomplishments of your offspring, from the first back-to-school photos with a satchel on your back to the results of the baccalaureate in June.

Between the two, sharing parents post drawings from kindergarten, good words from written expression homework, photos of campaign posters for delegates whose program provides for the adoption of a hamster by the class, judo medals, excerpts from letters sent from the green class… and many other triumphs that one would have thought destined for the family WhatsApp.

In the absence of a label, there is a name for it, the “sharenting”of share – share – and parentingwhich we now use in English when we want to give a scientific veneer to the word “ parenthood “.

In the past, good families wrote an annual circular to keep those around them informed of each other’s situations. The sharing of family exploits comes out of this restricted circle to inform people who do not necessarily know the children in question, or even did not even know that they existed. And in a strangely deterministic age in education, children’s accomplishments become parental trophies.

How do we recognize them?

They usually start their posts with ” I am not used to “ (sharing personal information, self-promotion…). They willingly use the hashtags #proud (as in #fierdemonfils), especially under photos of achievements to which they have contributed significantly (the posters of the delegates’ campaign printed in color at the office, or the publicity boards stuck up until midnight the day before while the child slept).

Ever since they posted the MRI of their son’s soccer foot injury (“too much training this season”), their friends and colleagues now know their children inside out. They easily talk about “image rights” the idea that the mistress sends to the class photos of the first school trip, but they quietly post the photos of their son’s latest report card. They go to conferences “Our children and social networks”.

They stop posting during the high school years for a final lap of honor at the time of graduation (we will analyze in a while the role played by social networks and TV series in the adoption ofgraduations American-style with hat-throwing in France), and before circulating their child’s CV on LinkedIn.

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