Nov 23 2008
Stop expoiting your children
I normally don’t do rants on here. But I am so tired of seeing parents throwing their child’s’ picture out on the Internet for every pedophile and pervert to see. Every site I belong to, I can see it. They use their children’s pictures as their own display picture. Or they have entire albums devoted to their kids, and leave it open to the public to view.
How can a parent have no regard for the safety of their children. We spout off the rules of Internet use to our children, and then these awful parents turn around and post pictures of their kids. I write about mine, and there is one album of my children on Myspace, which is available for friends only. Of course, my definition of friends and yours is completely different. I mean people I actually know in real life. Otherwise, they are not friends, they are acquaintances. Which in layman’s terms means someone you talk to occasionally, not someone who is involved in your everyday life.
I see pictures of babies in bathtubs, teens in their prom dresses, school uniforms and what not. If I can see them, so can your local pedophile, and he is busy right clicking away, saving those pictures for his own sick use. Sure, that sounds harsh to some, but it is also reality.
It seems extremely hypocritical to tell your child not to give out their information, and yet on your own pages, you list your city, state, and then a picture of your precious child. What is it going to take for some of these parents to wake up? Some sicko snatching their child off the playground? And then the kidnapper is caught, when asked how he picked the child, he will answer he saw a MySpace page with all the information he needed.
Get a clue parents. If you feel the need to brag about your child’s accomplishments, fine, do so. Just do it in a safe manner. Send emails to people you actually know. Write about it. Phone. Please stop posting those pictures, I don’t want to read about your missing child months down the road.
Wow, I never thought about this in this way. I totally agree with your views.
Excellent article.
OMG! How right you are? My sister had suggested I send a picture of my baby to a friend of the family who is a detention center and without a pause, I said “not so they can do their business to her innocent picture.” Sometimes parents get hiccups too, but it is our job to protect our children in this information age. Right on!