Parenting? Nay, sharenting!

Manika Ahuja

When Bollywood actress Kareena Kapoor Khan proudly flashed her baby bump as she took the Lakmè Fashion Week runway by storm, she, knowingly or unknowingly, coined a new term—sharenting! Overwhelmed by emotions, she shared, “It was not one, but two of us. It was a very special moment...it was historical.”

The glowing mum-to-be has always been verbose about her feelings on her impending parenthood, and so have other B-Town celebs such as Riteish Deshmukh and Genelia D’Souza, every time they post their ‘oh-so-adorable’ pictures with their little ones. But there are some who go overboard. Take Australian actor Hamish Blake and wife Zoe Foster; the duo are being slammed for ‘overexposing’ their two-year-old son by splashing his pictures all over Instagram! Welcome to sharenting—a world where doting parents and parents-to-be take to social media for sharing information related to their children.

If celebrities are leading the way, can tricity folks be far behind? Certainly not! From parenting to ‘sharenting’...here’s how young couples are embarking on the journey.

Count the blessings

Pallavi Negi Thakur and Sandeep were overwhelmed with emotions and their Facebook walls, well, with pictures when their adorable baby girl Ziva was born...every precious moment of the toddler continues to be posted! “It fetches the little wonder a lot of blessings,” says Sandeep.

Post with care

Runjan Sharma’s mantra to keep over-sharenting at bay is simple, “As long as you can justify their online presence to your children when they’re older, crack on!” But the young mom does not overlook the brighter side of the trend, “Our parents don’t live with us, so sharenting is a good way to make them feel a part of our lives.”

Think it through

According to Ranjeeta, as long as doting parents don’t go overboard with ‘sharing it all’, “There is no need to curb the trend.” Every time she shares her 11-month-old daughter’s life on the internet, she thinks to herself, “Ten years down the line, will this content cause embarrassment to my child?” If her instinct answers in the affirmative, she stops.

Precious moments

Chandigarh-based Gaganpreet Kalra could not wait to share her happiness of becoming a new mom with the world. “Well, I posted pictures of my new-born child on my Facebook account!” exclaims Kalra. Truckloads of congratulatory messages started pouring in and since then, the ‘young parent of the digital era’, cherishes the process of, “sharing precious moments of my little one on social media.”

Networking of parents

For advocate mom Srishti Chauhan, sharing posts about her seven-month old son, Ripunjay, helps her reach out to other parents, “And the networking helps me get valuable advice from them about child-related problems.”