'I always shared my family life online. Then a stranger approached my son at the train station.'

Late last year, my five-year-old son was out with his grandma, heading to the Christmas pageant in Perth.

When they arrived at the train station, a stranger approached them.

He smiled and said hello to my little boy, then turned to my mother-in-law and said, "I follow Heidi on Instagram."

That was it, nothing more, nothing less.

But when my mother-in-law told me about it later, something in me shifted.

Watch: 'Where My Moms At?' Podcast host Christina P shares her thoughts on posting her kids. Post continues below.

I've had a public profile for years — across radio, TV, podcasts and social media. I'm used to people recognising me and even my family, but this was the first time someone recognised my son and I wasn't there.

I felt shame instantly when she told me. Had I not been protecting my son like I thought I had?

The moments I've shared, the stories I've told, had unintentionally become his too, and I hadn't fully considered what that meant until now.

This moment changed everything for me.

For years, I've shared my motherhood journey openly. I've always done it with pure heart and honesty, the highs, the lows, the shitty and glorious moments we have as parents, but suddenly, I saw it differently.

My son is confident, friendly and engaged in the world around him. Because of the life I've built online, that means people might recognise him, even when I'm not there to explain who they are.

I started questioning everything:

Have I truly protected his privacy?

Have I thought through what it means for him to be known, not for who he is, but because of who I am?

Would he want this when he's older?

And, most confronting of all, have I unintentionally put him in a situation he didn't ask for?

My son didn't think twice about the encounter. He waved, said hello, and carried on with his day. For me, that moment opened up a much bigger conversation.

I've always talked to him about body safety, personal boundaries, and safe adults, but I'd never really considered how to explain digital safety and privacy to him at this age. I thought it was something we'd tackle when he was older when he had his own devices and social media accounts.

I was wrong. It starts now.

Since that day, we've been having new conversations in our household.

What it means to be seen online.

Why some people might recognise him, even if he doesn't know them.

What privacy means, both in the digital world and real life.

I want him to understand that his face, his story, and his life belong to him and he has a right to decide what's shared.

We don't know what we don't know, so this isn't an attack on anyone else for sharing their kids online at all. Hell, l I don't know what the future holds for us, I just want more open dialogue around this and it starts with me being open and speaking about how I am evolving as a parent.

Following this realisation, I spoke with Kristi McVee, a former child abuse detective and online safety advocate who has been an incredibly awesome support to our family and someone who we ALL should follow online.

She asked me something that stopped me dead in the moment: "We don't truly know our followers, so why should they have a front-row seat to our childrens' childhoods?"

Kristi spent years investigating child sex offenders and what she saw during those investigations is horrifying.

Offenders regularly saved photos of random children from social media. Some were innocent pictures, fully clothed, everyday snapshots. That didn't matter. If they liked the look of a child, they saved it.

One offender told her, "It's not illegal to be a creep." And he was right.

Even registered sex offenders can legally collect children's images from public accounts and police can't do anything about it.

Hearing that made me feel sick. Not because I believe any person who follows me has bad intentions but because I had never truly thought about where those images could end up.

However, the reality is that most harm to children comes from someone they know, a friend, a family member, or even someone in the neighborhood, etc.

So I've always been intentional about teaching my son those boundaries. I hadn't realised that sharing his life online could create a different kind of exposure, one that trickles into the digital world in ways I wasn't prepared for. Protecting him isn't just about the people around him, it's also about who's watching from behind a screen.

I want to be clear, I'm not here to tell anyone how to parent. I'm still figuring this out myself.

I'm also not saying I'll never post about my son again… what I am saying is, I'll be a lot more intentional.

Before I share anything, I now ask myself these questions, thanks to Kristi.

Who am I really posting this for?

Is it for me, my business, my content or is it actually for him?

Would I invite my followers into my home?

If not, should they really have access to my child's life?

Would I be comfortable if his images ended up in the wrong hands?

If the answer is no, I need to think twice before posting.

We don't know what we don't know. But once we do, we have a responsibility to act.

The digital world is evolving faster than we can keep up, and our kids are growing up in it. The conversations we have about body safety and personal boundaries need to extend to the online world, too.

This isn't about fear, it's about awareness and choice.

I don't have all the answers. However, I do know that by being open, by learning, and by having these conversations, we can empower our kids to navigate this world safely, both offline and online.

And that's something worth sharing on the internet.

Feature: supplied.