Hi

I believe it is everybody's right to do what they feel is best for their child. I have only recently become a dad of the most beautifull litlle girl and understand the feelings a parent has for their children. It is your first and utmost responsibility to protect them.

This being said, you cannot wrap them up in cotton wool and deprive them of this world. Assess the situation and see the risk involved. I look at your sitaution as follows.

1. All Schools do it and therefore you have a very limited if any choice of schools who dont put their photos on the internet. This is also most probably the way you found your childs school in this day and age.

2. If you remove your childs photo and the other kids photos are still up, you dont remove your child from the potential harm. As a comment posted earlier, organisied pheadophile rings (That just sounds sick) target groups and schools so you will most likely have them watching schools etc. You cannot avoid your child playing outside.

3. You as a parent also has a duty to equip your child socially so think of what it will do to that child later on when you deprive him of the basics other kids are allowed to enjoy. They will only rebel when the get older. Rather teach them from young about responsibile behaviour.

It is tough but rather use your energy to implement training of staff etc to be on the lookout for the physco's that want to harm our little treasures.

Those idiots that say that you are a fool etc. to be concerned about placing photo's of your children on the net, clearly do not care for their kids as much as you care for your child.

It is our responsibility as parents to protect our children to the best of our abilities. And that includes making their photo's accessable to criminals.

Think about it this way. If a paedophile sees a photo of a child he likes on a school site, what stops him to go to the school and look for your child! He will then be able to follow you home, and there you have it. He knows where your little angel's house is!!!

We live in a scary, harsh world. And it is a hard reality that these kind of people that pray on our children are out there, and we do not want to make it easier for them to pick their victims.

Protect your kids!!!!!

Guest @ 06 June 2010 07:05:02

Yup, of course you're right - all the risks are blown out of proportion. Like the risks involved in riding a motorcycle or bicycle without a helmet, or not buckling-up in a car. After all, a lot of us got away with that kind of behaviour 30 or 40 years ago and are here to prove it.

Thing is, when sh1t happens to you or your child, then you'll wish you'd been more careful and less 'adventurous'. Especially with regards to THEIR health and well-being.

The BIG problem is that you cannot undo the damage inflicted on your child by a paedophile, just as you cannot undo brain-damage inflicted by an unprotected head-trauma.

Scariness is one thing - and you're 100% right, the world is not scarier today than in the past.
BUT!
The world is FAR more dangerous today than it has ever been. If you deny that fact, then you're lying.

The school is NOT allowed to put pictures of your child on the net. That's it period.

The school that my son attends has a consent form for this type if use.

The school should be approached and not do what they want.