Katie Price has defended her decision to let children Junior, 11, and Princess, 9, have public Instagram profiles.
After facing backlash from commenters on her own social media accounts about the choice, Katie used a recent appearance on the Loose Women panel to hit back at the critics.
'I find it an absolute insult when people give me stick, I’m a really good mum and I will protect them with my heart,' she said.
'I am no way a bad parent; I’ve got five beautiful, very well-mannered children. My kids have been brought up in the industry, now they’re being booked for jobs themselves.'
'Social media is the future. I won’t allow them on Snapchat, Facebook etc. But all their friends are on Instagram.'
She added that she's already put in procedures to prevent any negative activity on the children's feeds.
'Yes it is open, but I’m in control. I sign them in, I sign them out. I made it clear, you don’t follow anybody, I delete comments, block people. I’m protective!’, she explained.
'They’ve got to have a bit of normality. If their friends are doing it, I can’t say no to everything. Even on their phone, I've got a block on them, they can't look at stuff on the internet. If you look at their followers, it's just their friends from school.'
Katie's words come just a few days after Peter Andre, Junior and Princess' father, spoke to New! magazine about Princess' love of selfies, telling the mag that he hopes the posing is simply a phase.
'I hope she gets it out of her system because she'll be going to the nunnery at 16', he said. 'I'm letting them have their little fun at the moment but then it's back to school.'
He also responded to Princess' news that she has a boyfriend, telling Loose Women, 'Yeah, well, I'm not having it. I'll allow her to befriend a priest.'
Junior was the first of the pair to have an account on the social media platform, which Katie shared details of on her own account.
'My baby boy has asked me for 3 years for Instagram so I've allowed it but I'm keeping my eye and have passwords,' the former glamour model told her 1.2 million followers.
He was then closely followed by sister Princess, who now also has her own profile.
'Now my beautiful Princess has driven me mad for Instagram but I said I'll be vetting lol', Katie added, posting a screenshot of her daughter's username.
The decision to allow both children to get accounts, as well as leave them public, has sparked debate amongst Katie's fans.
'The account is public @officialkatieprice that gives every weirdo and troll the opportunity to put what they want? Do you really want your children to see such comments etc, please at least put them to private,' one wrote, while a second agreed, 'Katie be careful!! You can't handle the negative comments sometimes! Don't allow monsters to write things on your children's posts'.
One simply wrote, 'This is so wrong. Unfollowed.'
However, others were quick to jump to the mother-of-five's defence.
'Lots of people post pics of their kids.... so if she is monitoring her kids, keeping a close eye on what they do.... what difference does it make??... everyone that have kids have to make choices in life for their children, not everyone agrees on other parents decisions, but to be so nasty about it..... beyond me!!! Katie is a good mum, there are millions out there that are not....... he without sin cast the first stone,' one such fan argued.
'People need to lay off seriously, she hasn't put the girl on a dating website for god sake its Instagram and she has control over it. Get over it,' read a comment on the picture of Princess' account.
Junior's account has already accrued over 8,300 followers, whilst Princess' has 6,800 at the time of writing. Both have uploaded videos of themselves welcoming their new fanbase, and assuring them that their mum is in full control of the accounts.
'Hi everyone, welcome to my Instagram page, I've been begging my mum for three years and now I've finally got Instagram, so, I have to behave, otherwise she'll take it off me, so... ' Junior explains in his clip.
'Hi everyone, welcome to my Instagram! Junior had it so I really wanted it, I drive my mum mad, she let me have it, now she's in full control with me,' Princess reiterates, ending the video with a cute thumbs up.
Would you, or have you let your kids join Instagram? Let us know in the comments below!
