Why do parents turn their kids into influencers?

Would you share your children’s most intimate moments on social media – from potty training to the sex talk – if it meant you could make millions? For some American families, posting about daily life has become a full-time job and a financial necessity.

Journalist Fortesa Latifi interviewed dozens of family influencers (and their children) for her book, “Like, Follow, Subscribe: Influencer Kids and the Cost of a Childhood Online.” She joins Reema to talk about how children are paid for their work, why some parents stopped posting their children, and how kids feel about having their lives broadcast online.

A few takeaways from this episode:

• For teen moms, influencing is a lifeline. The job market is challenging for everyone these days, let alone a pregnant teenager without many qualifications. “One of the young women that I talked to was 15 [years old] in her second trimester, and she didn't know how she was going to make money for her baby,” Latifi told Khrais. “And then she got on TikTok… By the time I talked to her, she said that in the past month she had made $500,” Latifi said. That might not seem like a lot, but young women like this can struggle to find other opportunities, and even if they do, childcare can cost more than what they would earn at an entry-level job.

• Some parents are taking their kids offline, and it’s hitting their bottom line. Latifi spoke to one influencer whose brand deals went from six figures to zero, “because brands didn't want to not show the kids.” But Latifi says that as criticism of family influencers grows, more brands are open to working with influencers who keep their kids offline.

• The loneliness of motherhood contributes to the popularity of these influencers. Latifi became a parent while writing her book, which shaped her perspective: “No one I knew was going through postpartum at the same time as I was, and I felt so alone. But when I looked at my phone, I found tons of mom influencers and family vloggers who were going through the same thing I was going through and who wanted to talk about it.”
  

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