Is This Video Of Blue Ivy Too Private To Be Online?

It's no secret that kids are cute, or that Blue Ivy Carter is straight up adorable. Beyoncé and Jay Z's daughter is already a style icon, a trendsetter, and an awesome dancer. But a video TMZ published on Monday has us wondering if tabloids have gone too far in their coverage of the five-year-old.

TMZ shared a video of Blue Ivy at her school's ballet recital on Saturday, and, yes, Blue did "crush" it, as the site's headline claimed. But the fact that the video, which was filmed during a private — not public — event, is going viral is causing concern, too.

Based on the fact that the video appears to have been sold to TMZ, it looks like a parent of one of Blue Ivy's ballet classmates provided the video to the outlet. It's uncomfortable to sell private footage of any celebrity, but when you consider that Blue Ivy is just five years old, this definitely feels like an invasion of privacy. This isn't, say, a photo of someone, even a celebrity kid, walking down the street. It was shot within the confines of a private event, and I'm sure the Carters didn't expect the video to be all over the media two days after it happened.

If a fellow parent did sell the footage for their own gain, what does that say about how we treat celebrity kids? Yes, the video is cute, but it's also a private look into a family's life. And the Carters, not to mention the parents of the other children in the video, might not want it to be accessible to anyone with internet access.

In May, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's daughter, North West, who is almost four years old, was praised for telling the paparazzi not to photograph her. It's incredibly frustrating that children this young have to learn how to deal with invasions of privacy. We should let kids be kids — whether that means dancing to Earth, Wind, & Fire or eating ice cream — in peace, no matter who their parents are.

Welcome to Mothership: Parenting stories you actually want to read, whether you're thinking about or passing on kids, from egg-freezing to taking home baby and beyond. Because motherhood is a big if — not when — and it's time we talked about it that way.

Are The Kardashians Doing Women A Disservice By Hiding Their Nannies On KUWTK?
This Actress Fired The Nanny Who Wanted To "F**k Her Husband's Brains Out"
See The Kardashians & Jenners As Disney Princesses (You Know You Want To)