Snapping and sharing pictures of our adorable kids is one of the highlights of motherhood, but some shots should still remain private for their safety.
Recently, mixed martial arts instructor Joshua Robinson was sentenced to a four-year jail term for sexually assaulting two 15-year-old girls, making and possessing obscene films and one for showing an obscene film to a six-year-old girl. The police found and seized 321 films of child pornography when they raided his home, believed to be the largest haul of such material from an individual in Singapore.
A petition was started by Sarah Woon, a family friend of the six-year-old girl involved in the case, urging for a harsher sentence. It has since gathered over 29,000 signatures from supporters believing the ruling was too lenient.
With child predators now online, it’s wise to be careful about sharing information and pictures of your kid on social media. Here are 7 photos you should avoid posting of your child, so they won’t be misused if they fall into the wrong hands.
If a photo shows your child completely or partially naked, it’s not a good idea to make it public. What seems cute to us – a baby or toddler splashing about in the bath – may be fodder for child pornorgraphers or sexual predators.
Just as sharing bath photos isn’t appropriate, snaps of Junior on the potty aren’t a good idea, either. They could also be embarassing for your child when he or she has grown up.
Even posting a photo of your daughter in her one-piece swimsuit at the pool can be dangerous, as online predators can Photoshop her body so it appears naked. Even though the body in the photo is no longer your child’s, her face may still be visible, and the photo could be distributed in unsavoury ways.
Lots of parents post pictures of their kids in school uniform, but this could clue predators in on where your kids go to school. It’s even more sketchy if you post pictures of them with their school name tags, which bear their full names. Keep such photos private so you don’t unintentionally give important details to a stalker.
Never give out your child’s birth certificate or passport information online, as this confidential information can be used to find out multiple details about him or her, like medical and travel history. It can pinpoint your child’s whereabouts and habits, which can compromise his or her safety.
Don’t accidentally reveal where you and your kids live by posting a photo of your house number or street. A kidnapper or predator can easily misuse this information, too.
When posting pictures of other peoples’ kids, be sure to ask them for permission first. Many parents prefer not to share photos of their kids online in case they get misused, and you should respect their privacy if this is what they choose to do.
Documenting your kid’s illness or unfortunate broken arm is understandable, but you may not want to share this information online. For one, it could expose his vulnerability to potential kidnappers or stalkers, and there is also a growing trend of online scammers who save kids’ pictures and use them to start fake charity appeals online.
It seems cute and funny to share pictures of your kid holding a bottle of beer, or you pretending to hit them with a hammer. But taken out of context, these pictures can be misleading and cause misunderstandings. It’s best to be safe and not invite controversy by having others assume you may be mistreating or abusing your child.
If your kid’s photo has extra space in it, pedophiles can Photoshop naked images of themselves into the picture. Make sure photos you post of your child don’t have any extra room to superimpose any new people or objects inside. With photo-editing software on smartphones (try Google’s Snapseed, which is available on iTunes and Google Play), you can easily crop photos before posting them publicly.
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