‘Baffles me’: Steph Claire Smith responds to criticism over parenting decision

Fitness influencer Steph Claire Smith has defended a parenting decision that saw her face intense backlash.

Fitness influencer Steph Claire Smith has responded to critics of her decision to begin blurring her son’s face on social media.

The Melbourne-based model and KIC co-founder – who shares Harvey, 3, with her husband, Josh Miller – uploaded a video of the family attending a monster truck show at the weekend.

In the clip, posted to Instagram, Smith blurred Harvey’s face – a choice that was, absurdly, criticised by some of her 1.5 million-strong following as “strange”, given she had shown his face online in the past.

Smith herself emphasised the ridiculousness of their fury – and sense of entitlement regarding her parenting decisions – in a series of videos on her Instagram stories.

“I can’t believe I’m even taking the time to talk about this,” the 30-year-old began.

“But honestly, some people … I have spoken about this in my stories and on my podcast before.”

Fitness influencer Steph Claire Smith has responded to critics of her decision to begin blurring her son’s face on social media. Picture: Instagram

Smith said she and Miller made the call after fans approached the family in public and uttered Harvey’s name, which was “very confusing for a young boy”.

Now that her son is “at an age where he is not always in our care” and “is a lot more recognisable” – and will begin school soon – the couple had decided to try to avoid posting photos of him online, and to conceal his face when they did.

“That is our decision as his parents,” Smith said.

“It absolutely baffles me how people feel they can absolutely chime into your life and your choices.

“I understand that there are photos and stuff of him up there from the past. Our intention was not to erase him completely from the internet.

“It was to avoid putting up anything from now as he’s growing into, as he looks like a little boy.”

Smith, pictured with her husband, Josh Miller, said the couple’s ‘intention was not to erase him completely from the internet’. Picture: Instagram

‘It absolutely baffles me how people feel they can absolutely chime into your life and your choices.’ Picture: Instagram

Regardless of whether her followers agreed with the choice, Smith said she was “so sick” of the “judgement”.

“If it’s not what you would do, that’s fine. I’ve been avoiding putting content up of his face and that’s been fine,” she continued.

“But that monster truck video was really special to me. It was a really fun outing as a family, I really wanted to be able to share it.

“It was like the cutest reactions from Harvey and we had the best time.”

‘I’ve been avoiding putting content up of his face and that’s been fine.’ Picture: Instagram

Many in the comments of the monster truck video in question commended Smith on the move.

“Love this. Thank you for keeping your child’s identity private and for protecting him on the internet,” one person wrote.

“Being a parent in the age of social media is a fairly new phenomenon, let alone with a public following. Sometimes decisions and sentiments change as a child gets older and develops their more distinct features,” another said.

“As Steph said, everyone is entitled to their own decisions. This is obviously something that feels right for their family and how they want to protect their child. The internet is a vast and scary place. I get it completely. If anything, I wanna know what app to use to do the same!”