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| The week I became an Insta Husband to my son! |
I often wondered what Elijah must think I
do when he sees me on my phone, or on the laptop when we label it as ‘Mummy is
working’.
He has had his fair share of requests from me
to pose for my Instagram or blog and I had this idea a while back about him
taking over my grid.
I wanted to see things from his point of
view via his eyes.
He would choose what he wanted to post and
take the photos himself, I would upload and for one-week Elijah would takeover.
Slightly worried I would have no followers
left after a week of photos of his SuperZing collection never the less we
decided on a week he would takeover.
Beforehand I spoke to Elijah about how I
choose to share photos, who can see them, and showing him my grid, he had already
come up with a few posts he wanted to do. Including a photo of him on the
toilet which was quickly vetoed.
I was really interested to see what was
important enough to Elijah for him to share, and what he would glean from this
or already knew about how social media worked.
His posts consisted of what was important
to him, in his world, it is his dream to become a Firefighter, so he wanted to
share a photo of him outside the local station.
He also shared photos of me, his brother
and how he feels about me working from home. One of the biggest changes he has
had to go through was moving to a new house, so he wanted to talk about that as
well as a river nearby which has lots of rubbish in it.
To get a glimpse into what he holds dear
was so interesting, as well as him understanding what it means to share
something online, where people he does not know can view it.
I began to get more of an understanding
about how he viewed me, my work and the rest of his immediate world.
Surprisingly, people really engaged with
the idea and many were commenting on the posts addressing Elijah himself!
We spent some time together looking at the
comments and I would read out and he would tell me what to write back.
After the week of posts, we sat down and
spent some time talking about it and he said he wouldn’t want his own account
until he is older. He doesn’t think we should share private photos with people we
don’t know.
Recently, I have been becoming more aware
of how much I am sharing of the boys. I have been so honest about myself and the
boys. When they are old enough and if they turn around and say they are not
comfortable with me ‘oversharenting’, then I will stop.
We live in a digital age where kids as
young as Elijah can use apps, interactive boards are used in their nursery
settings. Elijah can use my phone and choose what he wants to watch on Youtube.
With my blog and social media work,
especially working from home it is something that Elijah is becoming more aware
of and I am in the view of course he isn’t going to have an account now, but I
will be very honest with the dangers and the effect social media can have as he
grows up.
Other than feeling I have gained a valuable
insight into Elijah’s world from this social experiment I also feel that he is
aware of a lot more than I give him credit for.
Elijah’s highlight of the takeover was a
firefighter fan page following us and liking his posts.
I would really like to make this a regular feature
especially as he gets older and over time of what he views as important changes
and how he views his relationships with family.
Now, it’s time for me to take back the
reins, I am in slight fear people will want Elijah to come back!
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