Personal photos on your blog?

Posting pictures of your kids is okay. Just do not post their ages. First names are okay. Last names I would leave off. Locations could be touchy that is up to you.

On a personal blog location may be okay with you, as long as it is people that you trust, that look at the blog. Like grandparents, family and (close friends).

This made a lot of sense to me and exactly my worry. If I do become successful and known in the mommy world, I'm not sure having my kids out there for all to see is wise. I'm actually selling something on my site (kid photo invitations I create) but I will also have a blog where I write about kid parties and also just my life in general, about kids and being a working mom. My husband thinks I should just be truthful, because it is no different than being in the real world and someone stalking you and your family. It happens whether you are online or not, but I guess online I'm actually the one putting it all out there, so I would feel was the one to blame if it all went wrong. I maybe over thinking it, but I also don't want to go through the work of adding all these photos and then having to change them. I actually like the idea of silhouettes and my logo is one, so maybe I'll stick with that and keep it all consistent.

Thanks to all for the advice!

If you want to show photos of yourself, that's fine. Your business or job - offline or online - does not require you to give up your privacy. It's a choice you make.

For children, though, it feels wrong to me to make that decision for a child. If it's a public site it's open to weirdos to look at and you may think you can't be found but you might learn differently. I wouldn't take the chance but that's just me.

You can write stories about your children - tell cute things about them - without identifying them by name or by photo.

At the time the internet was growing I had a reason (a stalker) for not putting my photo online....by the time I considered adding a photo I decided I didn't want to.

When you think about it that way, there is little way to control who sees your content online, especially on a blog. If the photos were posted on Facebook, then you could adjust the privacy settings so that only certain people could see them. If there is a concern about the family safety, the err on the side of caution.

All the people who have said that using real pictures of your family will help create a bond with your readers are drawing a conclusion that is not valid. It's another one of these IM "myths" that gets bandied about with no evidence either for or against. If you don't know a person, then how do you know you are looking at "real" pictures of their family or not? How do you know if someone is using their real name or not?

Perhaps you assume so because they tell you they are but they could be using stock photos and assumed names and telling fibs. So what's to prevent a blog owner developing the same bond by using photos of models? The photos are only one part of a bigger equation which includes written content and products.

Alexa Smith made the point that stock photo agencies might not be happy about you using their photos and representing the models as you or your children. The simple way around this is not to claim that the photos are of you or your family. A photo of kids that illustrates whatever your product is about is all you need. Let people assume they are your kids if they want; no need to disillusion them!

Personally I think that, potential security issues aside, your children have a right to their own privacy and might not welcome seeing their photos plastered all over "Mommy's blog".

One of my daughters has a website which supplies items for babies and young children and she has resisted using any photos of her own children.

It doesn't appear to have made any difference to the rapport that she has with her clientele or to the level of sales that she achieves.