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Shannon Birds older children had slowly begun to chafe against the demands of her career.
Shannon is a mommy blogger, an OG if you will.
But as her five children grew older, it had become harder to maintain her career.
Six-year-old Holland and eight-year-old Hudson led one of their typical rebellions.
None of the kids were cooperating.
Shannon became more and more anxious trying to get them to behave and smile for the photos.
She had gathered the kids in her bedroom, against a white wall, and they just wouldnt participate.
She grew more and more frustrated.
The money she brought in paid for their vacations, their clothes, and their hobbies.
Why did they have to make it so hard for her?
Finally, she lost it.
She even tried to hide the cast on one of her sons legs because it didnt match the aesthetic.
The pressure to c’mon the client was too much.
Once she had cooled off, she had an epiphany.
Maybe, she thought, she needed to just be done with this.
What was she doing to her children?
I was like, What is this childhood?
Is this worth it?
For so many years, Shannons career dictated her childrens lives.
As the kids grew, they started to want to assert themselves and their own creativity.
For a few years, Shannon resisted.
Frankly, these costumes were free and were helping to pay the bills.
Her kids could suck it up for the good of the family.
Recently, she has been reconsidering.
It doesnt make a lot of sense to Shannon.
But the kids realize they are on the clock and resent it.
All they would have to do is take a few pictures, and do maybe 10 Instagram Stories.
They would almost rather not even go sometimes…theyll pitch a fit about it, she said.
Shannon places some blame on herself.
Its because I get so intense, she said.
I started being a stage mommy about it.
Shannons dilemma is not unique.
They are beginning to ask, What rights do I have to my own image?
Arent I owed some of these profits?
Can I say no?
When I first started following blogs, so-called mommy blogs like Shannons were central to the industry.
In fact, I read mommy blogs more than fashion blogs.
It wasnt just me.
And that means they are at the mercy of the internets judgment.
To best demonstrate these issues, we must examine a different corner of the social media universe: YouTube.
Let me tell you a crazy story.
Myka Stauffer and her husband, James, were family vloggers.
Over the next year, their impending adoption was a huge part of their channel.
GOTCHA DAY China Adoption, which they said was dedicated to all of the orphans around the world.
It got more than 5.5 million views, more than any other video on their channel before or since.
As Huxley adjusted to the US, Mykas fame and prominence on YouTube grew.
In May 2020, James and Myka posted a video titled an update on our family.
People tended to be angry about two main things.
First, they felt Huxley had been exploited by the Stauffers on their channel.
People online began to call for the monetized videos to be removed.
A Change.org petition on the matter was signed by more than 150,000 people.
However, the dynamics at work apply to anyone who makes a profit from content featuring their children.
What she has seen has horrified her.
Things can very easily get out of control in this business, she said.
When you incorporate money with kids, it can be a very, very dangerous equation.
Women who share their childrens potty-training journey, for example, think they are helping other moms.
They arent thinking about the possible consequences for their kids.
Their audiences are also very different.
In contrast, she said, the audience for their family Instagram accounts skews older.
That changed in 1939, when California enacted what is most commonly referred to as the Coogan Law.
When Coogan turned 21, however, he discovered all the money he had made was gone.
His parents had complete control of his earnings and had apparently squandered them.
None of these laws, though, apply to children making money on the internet.
Masterson, however, acknowledges the issue is complicated to fix.
This is due to the nature of how the content is produced and filmed.
Theres no set, no working hours, and no script.
Rather, the filming is spontaneous, in their own home, generally without a set schedule.
It would take all of us collectively working for change.
Everyone would need to be on board, she said.
Those are some potential solutions to the kids-on-the-internet issue on a macro level.
But what does life as an influencer actually do to a family unit?
Its a hard topic to talk about, but she is extremely candid with me about it.
I think I almost created it with having a blog, she said.
They wanted their mom to be investing only in them, and they resented anything else.
Kids like it, he said, when they are being supported in their own hobbies and interests.
When they are doing things for the blog, they see it as supporting you, he told Shannon.
So they have begun to rebel against what they think is an artificial part of their life.
When they see their mom making content, they dont want to be a part of it.
They say, This is staged!
It leaves her in a tight spot.
What do I say?
Like, do it?
This is my job.
My kids are my job.
Excerpted fromSwipe Up for More!
Copyright Stephanie McNeal, 2023.
