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If there's anything to take away from P!nk's recent appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show it's that blue tick or not, everyone reads Instagram comments.
The singer used her interview with Ellen to talk about the backlash she received after posting a photograph of her 2-year-old son, Jameson, on Instagram sans his nappy.
The mom of two explained that bizarrely a pelican had found its way onto their property, and she wanted to share that moment with fans, not paying much attention to the fact that Jameson had removed his nappy.
The star later edited the photo so that Jameson's bottom half wasn't visible.
"It was this incredible experience for my family, and I have a 2-year-old... 2-year-olds don't like to wear wet swim diapers and apparently at some point he took it off," she told Ellen.
What really shocked her was that people said child services needed to be called in.
You can hear the star getting a little choked up talking about the nasty remarks, which she says is the reason she won't be posting about her family on social media anymore.
"I cried so hard after that because I like to share my family... I'm prouder of my kids than anything I've ever done," she said.
P!nk admitted that she understands where people were coming from but their approach felt more like an attack.
"I understand people saying, 'You need to be more careful because you are in the public eye and you should have thought of that.' And they're right but there's a nicer way to say that."
Also see: Just don't post videos of your kids on YouTube. Here's why
Have you been shamed on social media for your parenting decisions? Share your story with us, and we could publish your letter. If you want to remain anonymous, tell us in your email.
"I didn't even realise, I didn't look at the picture that way"
Pink's brush with the trolls is an important lesson for South African parents since any nude image of a child, regardless of the intention, is considered to be pornographic under SA law.
In 2014, at a discussion held during Child Protection Week, Senior State Advocate and the NPA's Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, Bonnie Currie-Gamwo, set the record straight on what the rules are for parents when posting images of their children on social media.
“It’s irrelevant what the purpose was for taking the picture. But any image of a naked child is child pornography and the reason for that is quite simple; it can be abused. What you do innocently, others take and they abuse it,” she said.
While this may seem harsh, according to PPM Attorneys (see the firm's discussion of Advocate Bonnie's comments here) this legal stance is due to the "unfortunate reality of all social media networks," and that images posted online can so easily end up in the wrong hands.
It really is sad but it's best to keep certain images in the family album. And when they're in the nuddy, just put your camera away.
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Have you been shamed on social media for your parenting decisions? Share your story with us, and we could publish your letter. If you want to remain anonymous, tell us in your email.
