Anon How often do your share your child’s accomplishments on your own social media

[Anonymous Post]

I’m curious how often people share about gymnastics meets and placements on their own social media accounts (not social media for recruitment purposes). I have friends who post after every meet, including videos of routines. How often do you think people actually want to see posts related to gymnastics? When does it become boasting?

 

[skschlag]

I posted after almost every meet, and still do. I love sharing my son's accomplishments and have lots of friends and family that want to see it. I think if people don't want to, they can scroll past. I also use it as a way to document, kind of like a scrapbook.

He has at best 2-3 years left in the sport, so I will share it all! I love seeing the memories pop up from earlier meets and skills.

 

[Anonymous Post]

I post every routine and 99% of the time the score as well. I have family that can't go to meets so its a way for them to see whats going on and I use facebook as more of a digital photo album anyway. I really enjoy when the 4 years ago today memories of her meets pop up and I can see how much progress she has made. I don't think its boastful... or rather I dont see anything wrong with being boastful when appropriately proud of accomplishments.

I think you can brag about your kid without putting others down. Boastful is not a bad thing if its just about your kids accomplishments I think it would be distasteful if you tried to compare your kids to others in some sort of negative way "Little Suzie crushed the competition today scoring 4 points above 2nd place!!!" is way different than "Little Suzie got first place today so proud of her hard work and how far she has come"

 

[Anonymous Post]

Like everything on social media, you are free to scroll on past anything that doesn’t interest you. I know nothing about figure skating, field hockey, or horseback competitions, but I’m perfectly happy to see friends celebrating their kid’s accomplishments in sports and activities that they love. I post routine assuming most people won’t watch but close friends and family seem like enjoy seeing them.

 

[JessSyd]

Every meet that I get good photos or videos from. I like it when they turn up as memories years later.

For us, this coming season, that will mean up to five competitions with the first in April and the last in September. Which I guess is an average of less than one a month. Sometimes, as two of the competitions are in quick succession at the same venue, I don’t post anything from the second - they would look identical to someone who doesn’t really follow the sport. And I try to limit posting routines to once per season, although I will break that if there is a major mid-season upgrade.

We have changed gyms enough so that I have gym friends I don’t see IRL that often anymore. I like seeing their kids’ progress and cheering for them when they do well and I know at least some of them like staying in touch with what my kid is up to too. She has one ex coach that sees the social media posts and genuinely seems to care too.

One of my friends posts routines of her kid after every competition. I watch them, and it has never really seemed like bragging,.

 

[gym_dad32608]

I posted after almost every meet, and still do. I love sharing my son's accomplishments and have lots of friends and family that want to see it. I think if people don't want to, they can scroll past. I also use it as a way to document, kind of like a scrapbook.

He has at best 2-3 years left in the sport, so I will share it all! I love seeing the memories pop up from earlier meets and skills.

This pretty much. Since I'm old and my social media is facebook (the kids tell me only old people use FB...) only my close friends and family are privy to my posts and pretty much all of them want to share the journey. Most pics of meets I post are pre or post routine where the hugs, high fives and genuine memories occur. I will throw a routine in there but time is limited so I enjoy every meet opportunity I get.

 

[txgymfan]

I posted after almost every meet, and still do. I love sharing my son's accomplishments and have lots of friends and family that want to see it. I think if people don't want to, they can scroll past. I also use it as a way to document, kind of like a scrapbook.

He has at best 2-3 years left in the sport, so I will share it all! I love seeing the memories pop up from earlier meets and skills.

I’m so happy that you share. I love seeing him shine. We’ve known each other a long time here and for a few years on other platforms and it’s like watching my nephew perform.

 

[Anonymous Post]

Once a year I post an annual update video of each event.

If she does something special I'll post it separately as well like the first time doing something in competition that she has been working on for a long time.

Don't ever post scores as I don't think it means anything to non-gymnastics people, sometimes post a podium shot or a general meet shot if the venue is interesting in some way.

 

[Anonymous Post]

I have always tried to limit it to once/year (maybe I'll increase to twice this year), mostly b/c people kind of freak out and I end up getting so many comments that I start to feel embarrassed. I have other kids, and nothing seems to generate the excitement of a gymnastics post. I do think people like to see the updates, at least to a certain degree. But there is a fine line between sharing an update and coming across as bragging or obsessed. With all of that said, I LOVE to see other people's posts and don't see it as braggy, so this is a *me* issue, I'm sure.

 

[gymgal]

I used to post a lot of videos, photos, and updates for my kids' sports when they were younger because we had out of town relatives requesting them. Most were viewable to only my friends list but still, over time, my thinking evolved on having so much of their life on the internet without their expressed consent. Around that time, they got their own accounts and I posted much less and only after asking if they were ok with each. I wish I had thought more about it before starting to post when they were younger.

 

[skschlag]

I used to post a lot of videos, photos, and updates for my kids' sports when they were younger because we had out of town relatives requesting them. Most were viewable to only my friends list but still, over time, my thinking evolved on having so much of their life on the internet without their expressed consent. Around that time, they got their own accounts and I posted much less and only after asking if they were ok with each. I wish I had thought more about it before starting to post when they were younger.

I do get permission before sharing anything. But since all of it is public (for him at this point anyway), he is pretty chill about it.

 

[Anonymous Post]

I share videos from all meets (to friends only) because it's the easiest way to share with extended family. Dd approves if this. If she didn't want them posted I would stop. It's fun to have the memories too!

 

[Gymbletot]

I mostly post to a private group for close family, who I know want to see as much as possible because they all live at a distance/abroad.

I occasionally share something to my wider friends list too

 

[Anonymous Post]

I try to limit my child's online presence. Of course I like bragging about her just as much as any other parent, so when she got medals for everything one competition I took a picture of her holding up her medals in front of her face and posted that one. I also never use her real name. It is just too easy for someone to copy what I posted and re-post it (yes, that has happened, even though my post was non-shareable). I do make a video of it as well, but that only gets shared with very few people who I know will not share it any further. I cannot protect her forever, and eventually I will have to let it go, but I am not ready for that yet

 

[Anonymous Post]

Personally, I get a little tired of seeing every single event (sorry for the men's events that is 6 videos!) I totally understand being proud of your child's accomplishments but to post every event, every meet is a little overkill for me. Yes, I can scroll past it, but it is a lot. My daughter had a long injury so I posted her first come back meet after 3 years of not competing, and now perhaps I will post from State meet. I usually just post pictures unless the video is amazing, but my daughter takes the videos now, or a teammate and she does not send them to me. Just my opinion, not trying to change anyone's mind about posting.

 

[Anonymous Post]

We know a few people who post every event, every meet, every score and whether their child does great or not, I still find it irritating, for some reason. I do scroll by, so no skin off my back for them to keep posting but meh. Maybe it's because I ran track and my sister was a competitive dancer and I seriously cannot imagine anyone wanting to watch my every race or her every routine, even if they are family living far away. Perhaps I'm wrong.

That said, I usually post one end-of-season highlight reel along with an occasional fun "cool new skill" video (like 2 max per year).

Meanwhile, I will admit to being a pseudo-hypocrite, because I post one video of each kid playing a great song with their band on their respective instruments every 2 months or so, when they have shows. Probably because that's exactly what I want to watch when I scroll other people's pages. But even then, it's my fave song they played in that show. I can't imagine posting videos of all 6-8 songs performed 6 times/year.

 

[RTT2]

Well, that's kind of what social media is- people posting about what is going on in their lives. I could see it being obnoxious if the tone was all about rubbing it in someone else's face or putting down teammates, "My kid beat everyone on her team- AGAIN!" or something like that, but I don't get taking issue with a parent posting routines, or clips from a theater performance, or track meets etc. If I found it bothersome, I would snooze the person for a while, and I guess if it really upset me, I'd unfriend them as I have with people who I've discovered have social or political views that I find deeply troubling.

No, I don't watch every clip of a friend's kid's basketball games, or chorus concert, but I usually "like" them, and it doesn't bother me if they post those things regularly. There is so much in the world that is dark, and so much that is negative that I'm quite happy to share and see friends sharing joyful and positive moments.

 

[pt coach]

When my daughter was competing I posted videos from most meets on FB for her out of town family. Now that she is out of high school and no longer doing gymnastics I treasure these FB memories! I will sometimes send the videos to my daughter when they pop up and we enjoy reminiscing about that particular meet. She was never a superstar winning all of her meets (until she switched to Diamond), so I rarely posted scores or places. Just a comment like - she connected her bar routine! I was horrible at creating any sort of organized scrap book for my kids, so FB is all I have.

Now I love watching videos from friends with kids in gymnastics - especially the kids of women I used to coach in gymnastics. It makes me feel old - but also super happy! I also love seeing videos from my friends with kids in other sports.

 

[skschlag]

When my daughter was competing I posted videos from most meets on FB for her out of town family. Now that she is out of high school and no longer doing gymnastics I treasure these FB memories! I will sometimes send the videos to my daughter when they pop up and we enjoy reminiscing about that particular meet. She was never a superstar winning all of her meets (until she switched to Diamond), so I rarely posted scores or places. Just a comment like - she connected her bar routine! I was horrible at creating any sort of organized scrap book for my kids, so FB is all I have.

Now I love watching videos from friends with kids in gymnastics - especially the kids of women I used to coach in gymnastics. It makes me feel old - but also super happy! I also love seeing videos from my friends with kids in other sports.

This exactly. It really isn't a lot over the course of a year. It is pretty concentrated. And now I LOVE seeing those videos pop up. It is just fun.

 

[SupportingHerDreams]

I'm old and use FB mainly. I was posting after every meet including videos of each event and scores. I realized that it may be more than some of my FB friends wanted to see so I created a separate FB page just for updates on my child's gymnastics journey and told my FB friends that they could follow her there if they wanted to.

I still post a brief update on my Instagram but the detailed updates I do on her FB page. This option has worked well for me because I do have a lot of friends and family that enjoy following her journey and it creates a bit of a scrapbook for me.