I am petitioning for an addition I would like made to the "Prohibited Duties" section of the Labor and Industry restrictions of labor for minors in Washington State.

We all love to share things on social media. A promotion, a haircut, a bizarre experience. Some people even make money off of their social media. And while sharing every personal detail of yours isn't a great idea, it becomes life-changing when it involves your kids. 

What does this mean? There are too many children who are being monetized without their consent.

Imagine growing up knowing that whatever you tell your parents in confidence could be the subject of their blog. Kids being filmed from the second they are born. Personal stories from bullying to bed-wetting shared across the internet, information that your friends, teachers, and potential employers will have at their fingertips. A recent example of this is Myka Stauffer: Stauffer adopted a boy from China with special needs, but eventually realized that she and her husband couldn't take care of him properly, so they re-homed the four-year-old boy. 

One of the most disturbing parts of this story is Stauffer saying she doesn't want to invade Huxley's privacy after making so many videos about him, including: his detachment disorder, him hitting his sisters, and his development process. She was using all of this as marketable content and making money through sponsors and ads: "Myka produced twenty seven videos about their 'adoption journey,' including a 13-part series of 'adoption updates'" (McNeal). 

This is not just limited to Stauffer, however. There are countless examples of children being exploited on their parents' social media. One example is a nine year old finding out that her mom was sharing her personal experiences (including potty training). Her mom didn't stop sharing her kid on the blog, despite the kid explicitly telling her that she was uncomfortable with it. Another is Ruby Franke, who refused to bring her six-year-old child's lunch to school when she forgot it. Franke said: "[My daughter] is responsible for making her own lunches in the morning, so the natural outcome is she is just going to be hungry. And hopefully nobody gives her food and nobody steps in and gives her lunch" (Stern). Not only did the child's mother not bring her lunch, but Franke explicitly wanted her six-year-old child to go hungry— and videoed herself saying as much. Eating healthily is tied to a myriad of benefits, especially to establish healthy eating patterns early on: "Student participation in the School Breakfast Program is associated with better grades and standardized test scores, reduced absences, and improved memory" (CDC). While this quote is specifically about breakfast, it is safe to assume that eating healthily for lunch would provide similar benefits.

This is not child acting, because child actors are both paid for their work and protected by Coogan laws. By adding this form of participating in a "family business" to the Prohibited Duties for Minors section of the Labor and Industry regulations, this type of monetization will be much harder for parents to exploit. With one simple piece of legislation, we can afford children the right to privacy that they deserve.