#72: Dance Instagram for Kids: Safe or Smart? Parent Guide to Social Media in Dance

Should your child have a dance Instagram account? Parents often wonder if it’s the “right” move to help their dancer gain exposure, connect with opportunities, or simply share their journey with friends and family. In this episode, I break down the pros and cons of creating a social media page for your child, including brand exposure, family connection, and safety concerns.

We’ll also talk about what to do if your child is too young to manage an account responsibly, how to set clear boundaries, and why social media should never replace the joy of dance itself.

👉 Listen in and decide what’s best for your family: www.brittanynoltmier.com/72

Transcript

Social media is everywhere and I bet you're feeling the constant pressure of, should my child have social media pages already or are they supposed to wait until a certain age?

Hello there and welcome back to Dance Colleges and Careers. I'm your host, Brittany Noltimier and this is the podcast where we talk about all things dance, colleges, careers, and those competitions as well.

Today we're diving into social media pages and if your child is ready for one. I am not here to say yes or no, but I'm here to raise some questions so that as you're battling this at home, really unsure if it would benefit them or hurt them now and in their future. Well, let's just talk about it a little bit and raise some questions.

so the goal of today's lesson is not to give you an absolute yes or no.

to discuss the different goals of your account for your the audience that your child should and you want them to be in front of, and then also the risks and rewards that come with having these social media pages, whether they have 20 followers or 5 million followers.

Okay, for today's purposes, I'm mostly just gonna talk about Instagram and you can refer that to your TikTok or your Facebook or whatever you want. But I see a lot of parents asking about, should my child have an Instagram page? And I think it really is because an Instagram can play as a digital portfolio. It acts as our resume now.

the first thing they're going to do is go to your Instagram or go to your Facebook. I personally, I just find that to be like the easier ways to find a person, but that could change any week, any day. But that's what I'm mostly going to refer to today. So basically, why might you want a page for your child? why are you even debating if they should have an Instagram account or not?

So the very first reason that you're probably here is because your child is begging you for one, right? They see phones at such a young age. They see all their friends have these accounts. They want one too. They believe that that's how they can get Instagram famous. And the truth is some of them can and some of them will. But remember there are risks and rewards that come with that. So are you trying to be a famous child star parent?

Is that your goal? this is the current day and age of being a child actor's parent, right?

They're in the spotlight, they're in the public, it's no longer just normal social media. They are up on a pedestal. They are, they have that fame attached to them. And then you need to have a little bit more security with the account as well. So first of all, it can be awesome having an, having an Instagram account or having a social media account that is public, that

If I'm at a dance competition and I see this dancer and I'm like, wow, they're so talented. I wonder what else they do. And I searched your name and I can find you and I can go back and watch all these different styles you do and go, wow, that's amazing. That's amazing. And I'm just really enjoying your performance. that does open up opportunities for you, especially if that happens in a casting director sees you. That is often how people get hired today. It is coming from their social media pages.

sure they're often still sending in a video, but many people get cast just by having a huge following by being known for a very particular reason, by being famous for that.

So yeah, if you have amazing material on your page and you could get hired from it, that's awesome. That's obviously a little bit different when you're 16, 17, 18 years old than when you're seven, eight, nine. So think about where your child is now before we even dig deeper in this,

Are they just getting started in their dance journey or are they like a first place top winner every single weekend and ready to be the cover of the magazines and a famous little dancer that you can go anywhere here to depending on who's listening. All right. So the opportunities are endless,

putting yourself out there in the best possible way does open up your world for opportunity, for jobs, for working, if you're looking to create this Instagram page as a working profile.

Reason number two, maybe you just want to share your videos with your family and friends.

Okay, this is an awesome idea. heard of families of people who do this because they want to share their experience, they want to share pictures of the family.

With their whole family and not have to send email and picture and picture and this and it's all over the place They don't know what they sent to who you have these family chain messages that are so long if everybody's pictures and videos So and so couldn't open up the video so I've heard of people who've created Instagram accounts made them private and share it just with their family and That's an awesome way to be able to share these videos come back to them and be able to just cheer on your dancer

the only thing with that is yes, it's private, but with the internet, I just think that at any point private could also mean public.

we make our accounts private, but it still is out there on the internet. if you're worried about security, there is that, but that still probably could be an issue of things getting public in any sort of email sharing or link. I don't know. I don't mean to scare you with that,

So I don't have any private Instagram accounts because I don't really believe anything's that private if you're posting it online or if you're posting it on Instagram. Why would it be private? Because you're choosing to put it out there. But I do know there are, you know, certain people you want to block out or just certain people you want to share with. So that's a great idea or opportunity if you're trying to systemize sending photos and videos to your family, to your friends, just an idea.

it also could be less pressure driven. So if you're just trying to get used to posting or if you're trying to create content or if you want to put out videos, but your child is too nervous yet to be in front of a bigger just sharing with that friends and family could be a great opportunity.

So in the end, the real question is who's your audience? Who are you creating this for? Are you creating it for your family, for your friends? And then you can put out silly content and mistakes and just kind of whatever you want. Or are you creating this so they can become Instagram famous? So they can book jobs, so they can book dance modeling jobs or get a gig on TV from their dancing. Because that is totally different content

and it makes it a lot easier to figure out how to post if you know who you're posting for. Then of course we have the pages where we're just posting for ourselves. We're proud of our baby, we wanna put it out there, but then again, they are your baby, they're your child, so still safety first, security first.

So think about who you're posting for and why you even want the account and why you want the account? But then again, why does your child want the account because this

really will be a partnership. But if you just are really into it and they're not, then you're just going to really feel this disconnect.

And maybe it's honestly probably just not the right time. Or if it's vice versa, if your child really wants it and you really don't want them to have it, you're the parent, you've got to go with your gut. And again, it's probably just not the right timing. Yet.

And then finally, why you might want to get an Instagram page is probably because your child is begging you for one and you're feeling the outside pressure and you see, you go to competition and you see all these other kids posting everything, video, video, video and posting. And so it makes you feel like that's what you're supposed to be doing. And if you're not, it makes you feel like a bad mom because it's like you're not keeping up with the Joneses, but in the social media updated world.

So I want you to shed that. I want you to shed that because it is not the answer for everybody. And it does require a lot more work from you. And also you kind of have to have tough skin because not only are like the inappropriate weird messages, the bad comments come with getting more followers, but you have to be the one monitoring that. And it's not just you, right? But it's for your baby, your baby cub.

And so it can be harder if we're not tough skinned. Does that make sense? Okay, now you're thinking, should you wait and how long do you have to wait for? Or maybe you're like, okay, my kid can do it, they can run it, I don't wanna have anything to do with it. Sure, but remember maturity matters. Maturity matters and

You are more mature so you can probably see the repercussions of posting things that maybe you're like, I wouldn't post that or this has too much skin out or this it just seems inappropriate or weird. And that's okay. That's why maturity matters. That's why you're there to help them support them be a part of this.

From what I see from the parents I speak to, it seems lot better when the parents fully run it and the kids just do what they love. They just do what they love, which is dancing. Maybe they love to take a video of themselves dancing and watch themselves dancing again. this is once we put it out on the internet, this is where bullying can start and even trolling where it's not even real people, but they get really negative comments. And I've seen many other

very inappropriate comments on miners a lot and it is creepy. It's disgusting. I don't know how it doesn't automatically get deleted if there are, if it's obviously a minor's account, but it's very, very real.

imagine your child dancing and then going to their account and seeing somebody say something that to them really hurts them. Like they're already working on building up this confidence, working on this skill. And then they get one comment online that ruins their day from a stranger, somebody who doesn't matter in their life and just adding to the whole difficult social media lifestyle.

Another thing that I heard someone a few years, about five years younger than me say was she said in high school, it wasn't so much about who liked it.

But when you put out a post, would be who were the people who didn't like your post? And you would be so aware of those couple friends who didn't like it. And then it's all you can think about. You're like, why did they not go to my page and automatically like my post? First of all, they could have gotten their phone taken away that week, or maybe they are being mean. Yeah, maybe. Or, you know, maybe it just didn't show up in their feed. You have no idea. And the unknown is what drives us crazy.

So just some social media things that are relevant for all of us.

But especially as you start to create that business page, which is what you're doing. If you're making a dancer page so they can become famous, right? So that you can have that online presence. That's a business page. You're creating a business page for them at a very young age and they can get booked. It is within their reach. That is a very real possibility.

it's like being their manager, protecting them from all the negativity because look, we don't, we don't need to hear all the negative things in the whole world.

Now here's a mistake I see all the time. I see these posts where it's like, I'm going to ash this weekend in Dallas at this hotel and I'll be dancing at 10 AM and it's posted and they have 5 million followers. And if you have 5 million followers, it probably means you got some creepos too. Okay.

It's part of becoming famous, right? Be getting that following. and so you just have to be extra, extra safe, extra careful when you're posting. I will be at this place at this time.

when you do have those accounts where you have

Thousands of followers and you are making a pretty big name for yourself Remember the creepos are following you too

And I guess that's really the root of this episode is that the real question of, of should my child have an account or not? It comes to the point of how much are you willing to put into it? Because are you wanting it to be huge, big? Are you trying to make your, your baby be a star? Um, and then are you willing

Manage the account, take care, screen through all the negativity, screen through all the creepos, because it also becomes another job. It's more than just taking them to dance class. Now you're managing this lifestyle as well. What's the goal of the account? Exposure, family updates, or just for fun, wanting to share.

So who's the intended audience? it private, is it public or for some specific community?

Who's going to manage the account? Is it parent managed, co-managed or teen led? Because remember, they're getting smarter than us and they will learn how to change the password and they will learn how to... They'll surpass you. Remember, that's what we're teaching them to do,

to get smarter than us and they're learning faster on technology than we are. So just make sure you set those boundaries, you set the expectations of who's managing the account and then up until when? Is it after they've graduated or just kind of what is the length of this and how can it best serve not only your child, but you and your entire family?

if you are managing this and it has basically become another job for you? What's your posting strategy? Because it gets really stressful if you just think you have to be posting all the time. Again, to keep up with the other moms. And that is just not true. Not true at all. Just what's your strategy and stick to your plan so that it works for you and your lifestyle. If Sally Jane over here posts six times a day,

That doesn't mean you need to be posting six times a day. you just need to do what fits for you, your child and your, your overall goals.

So the long-term impact here, yeah, it's gonna be people who wanna hire your child. And that's what we're talking about in the short term too, right? You could have a child star in front of you or you could be building this for when they turn 18 or 20 to be on stage or be in movies and they could get hired from their social media pages. But even if they're not, that's okay. they still, if they're applying to work in a doctor's office, if they're applying to work at

at my company, the IT, I own a children's theater company. If you apply to work for me, the first thing I do is go to look at your social media pages.

So that really is very important for the future, the long-term. And that's, I'm talking about jobs, but it's the same for colleges. You know how much easier it is to go, this person was really good in their audition, but let me look them up online. You can see so much more from a person, Instagram's your digital.

Resume now and it's more powerful.

And then I just have this little note here that I think is kind of funny but also true where it says a sloppy oversharing account can hurt opportunities. Yeah, if it's sloppy and oversharing, oversharing. I mean, I know that some people like get famous from their oversharing. So you do whatever you want to do with what that means.

But it's like when people use social media as like their personal diary, when you go, okay, like I'm sorry for you in that story, but I feel like this isn't the right place for that. I feel like you need to take that and journal it or talk about it with somebody or have that in like a meeting or a therapy session rather than just putting it out online and hoping you're gonna, and then waiting for the response you get from people. think it.

It can be seen as like attention seeking like that sloppy oversharing could hurt some opportunities.

So here's some quick practical tips for if you're just trying to get started. So you can start private and practice with boundaries with your child. Yes. Have a content vault so posts aren't rushed. So now you can schedule everything out. You don't have to post both. If we did like 12 classes in one day, you don't have to post them all in one day. You can take your videos and schedule them out to fit with whatever you have going on.

I like this one, never overshare personal details, school address, live locations. Exactly. It all comes back to security. Yeah. Yeah. Take care of yourself. build a backup plan. Yes. This comes in handy, especially as we were talking about, you know, creating this to share with your family, build a backup plan because Instagram could disappear any day. And if, if your videos are only taken on Instagram and saved on Instagram because your phone ran out of space, then

All of your content will be gone just like that. So just make sure you really have like a library of your videos, whether that's on your computer or on your phone or on a flash drive, whatever that is, and probably a backup as well. I use Google drive first, then I use flash drives and then I use my hard drives because I don't want to lose everything.

treat your Instagram page like a portfolio or a resume, not a diary.

Instagram isn't good or bad, it's a tool. So the key is understanding the goals for your child, the maturity level, and how you as a parent is going to guide their process.

Would Instagram be a real digital resume for your child or just another app draining your time?

And that's all folks, that's it for today's episode on dance colleges and careers. I encourage you to go check out our freebie on this week's episode and you can catch that link in the description below. Thank you so much for being here.

Until next time, be brave, tell your story, and own the stage.