Yesterday, it was a beautiful day and toward the end of it, we had that amazing sunlight that is so much a part of late Fall days. It was casting a warm glow on everything, especially Caidin, as with my lens, I caught him up in a tree.

The photos were so beautiful, I had to share them on Facebook.

I happily uploaded them and entitled them ‘Boy in a Tree…or Trouble in the Making’ for in the photos I could see the fading away of the little boy and the hint of a young man in the making with a certain sense of strength and charm.

As the photos popped up in people’s news feed, there were likes and comments – of note, each photo was ‘liked’ by Josie, the head of Caidin’s school.

When we arrived at school this morning, Josie was in the entry area greeting parents and kids as we all started our week. She turned to Caidin and said ‘I loved the pictures of you in the tree!’

I knew it right there, I had messed up. I never asked Caidin if it was O.K. to share those photos.

He turned to me with that dark look he gets when he’s not happy about something, and before he said anything I said ‘I’m sorry, I forgot to ask you if it was O.K. to share those photos.’  I explained to him that they were just so beautiful, I was excited to share them, but that wasn’t an excuse for not asking his permission first.

This is one of those many, many moments when in our every day activities we get caught up and forget to do as we say.

If we want our children to always ask us and to always ask their friends before posting photos, and we want their friends to always ask as well; it stands to reason that we should always ask too.

Even as an adult it’s a little weird when someone I don’t know comes up to me at an art opening of my husband’s and starts talking about some family event as if he or she had been there on it with us.  I can only imagine how odd it must be for a child to have that experience. It feels some how out of time and space.

I’ve decided that we as a family need to have a conversation about photo sharing, even of our own family experiences. I’ve also put a little note on my camera to remind me to always ask first.

This is another really great reminder that we need to model for our children the things that we are asking from and of them.

Please note, the photo that accompanies this post is shared with Caidin’s permission.

© 2012 Christine Agro

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Christine Agro is a clairvoyant, naturopath, Master Herbalist, conscious mom and author of 50 Ways to Live Life Consciously as well as of The Conscious Living Wisdom Cards (Special Moms’ Edition). Christine is founder of The Conscious Mom’s Guide , a membership site where she helps support you on your own journey of living life consciously and on your journey of being a Conscious parent. You can also join Christine on Facebook. To contact Christine, invite her to speak or to schedule an appointment with her please email her.