✏️ Build flexible briefs

• Rigid deliverables can create pressure, especially for families with young children. Flexibility helps preserve a child-first experience.

  Try This:

  • Replace hard filming deadlines with suggested windows and let creators choose formats that suit their family dynamic.

  • Avoid asking for content during school holidays, late evenings, or tight turnarounds.

🚫 Minimise “must-have” moments

• Scripted lines or repeat takes can push children into performative roles that feel unnatural or tiring. Children who receive praise for acting “professional,” “brilliant on camera,” or “so mature” may feel pressure to perform or behave beyond their age.

• This can impact their natural development or cause anxiety about meeting adult expectations.

  Try This:

  • Reinforce to creators that natural, unpolished moments are okay - and often better received.

  • Avoid overly polished briefs or perfection-driven feedback when children are involved.

🙅 Normalise “no”

• Children may change their minds on the day, and that should be okay. Creators need permission to prioritise their child without risk to the partnership.

  Try This:

  • Add a note in the brief or contract: “If your child isn’t up for it, skip it - we’ll adapt.”

🧠 Is the child required?

• If a child can’t express how they feel about being in content, it’s worth asking your brand or client whether they need to appear at all.

  Try This:

  • Offer optional child-free creative routes.

💬 Comment Culture & Audience Reactions

• Even if a child doesn’t see the comments immediately, the tone of public feedback can affect how they are perceived and treated by peers, and may be seen later in life.

• Harmful or inappropriate comments (including objectifying, mocking, or “overly affectionate” language) can normalise uncomfortable attention or become sources of embarrassment or distress.

  Try This:

  • Encourage creators to moderate comments or use filtered terms, or if the content is living on your owned channels, moderate the comments or turn them off completely. Offer to assist with hiding or disabling comments on paid content where children are present.

  • Avoid amplifying posts with children via paid media if audience moderation isn’t in place.

🎯 Content Longevity & Reuse

• Content lives on beyond the campaign, especially when reposted, stitched, or used in paid media. Children may later feel uncomfortable or distressed by seeing past versions of themselves online.

• Without controls, content can be used in future campaigns without re-consent.

  Try This:

  • Include short-term usage windows for any content involving children. Avoid indefinite rights.

  • Explicitly state that content with children will not be reused without further permission.

📲 Repetition & Routine Exposure

• When children appear regularly in content, especially branded content, it may normalise a performative relationship with their parents or audience.

• This can lead to internalising identity based on online feedback or commercial value.

  Try This:

  • Space out campaigns that involve a family’s child or reduce frequency where possible.

🏷️ Framing & Labelling

• Children may be unintentionally cast into roles - “the cheeky one,” “the smart one,” “the emotional one” - which can stick, both publicly and privately.

• This can shape how they’re treated at school, by relatives, and even by themselves.

  Try This:

  • Avoid scripts, captions, or hashtags that label or stereotype a child. Let creators describe moments naturally and neutrally.