Teacher Says Parents Who Post This Specific Back-To-School Picture On Their Kid’s First Day Put Their Kids At Risk
You can never be too careful when it comes to the safety of your children.
Ahturner | Shutterstock The first day of school for many U.S. students is right around the corner, and parents are ready to commemorate the occasion with their yearly back-to-school social media posts. Whether you like them or not, your feeds are about to be filled with the shiny, happy faces of elementary school kiddos and maybe even some sullen mugs of the less-than-excited teens ready to hit the books for another year of learning. If you're one of those parents planning your first day photo shoot, you might want to think twice about any props included, especially if you have plans to put those photos on social media.
One teacher took it upon himself to issue a stark warning to parents who are eager to share their back-to-school photo shoots with the world. He said there's one photo in particular that has become quite popular with Facebook moms that could actually put their kids at risk.
A teacher warned parents to avoid posting any back-to-school photos that reveal their child's school and teacher’s names.
Mr. Williams (@mrwilliamsprek), a preschool teacher with millions of followers on TikTok, knows a thing or two about eager parents and those back-to-school photos. He is also vigilant about child safety, which is why he posted a video ahead of school starting as a PSA to parents about what not to do when it comes to first day of school pics.
Maria Symchych | Shutterstock
Many parents nowadays have their children hold up a sign that details their name, age, and the grade they are starting. However, some signs can be personalized to include other details, such as what they want to be when they grow up, the name of their school, and the name of their teachers. Mr. Williams argued that these super-detailed signs are the problem because they offer strangers valuable information about your children that you should never share willy-nilly.
Detailed information about your child in a back-to-school photo should only be shared personally with family and friends.
While commemorating your child's milestones and adding them to the memory box may seem like a good idea, Mr. Williams begged parents to leave them off social media. “Let’s say a predator saw that photo of your child. They now know all the information about your child,” he said. “They know your child’s name, they know your child’s school, they know your child’s grade, they know your child’s teacher, they know their favorite color, they know their favorite food, they know what TV shows they like, they know everything about them.”
It's simply too much personal information to be publicly shared. Regardless of intent, the accessibility of information gives strangers access to information, which could be potentially dangerous for all the children at the school. “Stop publicly posting these photos,” Mr. Williams urged parents. “If you want it for yourself, great! If you want it for when they graduate high school, amazing! But stop putting them online.”
Social media expert Chris McKenna, who is the founder of Protect Young Eyes, told WZZM13, "It's never been easier to take somebody and to take their information, to take little bits and to know as much about somebody. So parents need to almost not share anything about their kids online. You are establishing a digital footprint for your kids." He went on to bluntly state, "I think as parents, we need to check our own egos, our own desire to rank, to be noticed, to be known by those around us, by sharing our beautifully uniform-clad little children on the stoop of our house as they head off on their first day of school."
Cybersecurity experts agree that back-to-school photos on social media pose unnecessary risks.
Though it may seem innocent and cute to post pictures of your children’s first day, Forensic Computer and Cell Phone Expert Tim McLemee told ABC affiliate KLTV that it's best to avoid the practice.
He said, “The best rule of thumb is do not place anything on the internet, on any platform, that you do not want criminals to see." And don't think you're safe just because you maintain strict privacy settings on your account. McLemee added, “Everyone that’s on social media today either has fallen victim to losing their account or they have had friends lose access to their account through a hacker or something like that, so, at any given moment, you could have someone that is in your group, family or friend that does have access to your Facebook … lose their account information to a criminal.”
Not only can online predators target your children and find them in person based on information their parents share on social media, but they can also use your child’s photos to “digitally kidnap” them and steal their identities. “Criminals can use your child’s image and shared details to create fake profiles and fabricate an online identity,” Trevor Cooke, an online privacy expert at EarthWeb, told the Huffington Post. “They can then set up unauthorized accounts, apply for credit, and conduct other activities under their name.”
You can never be too careful when it comes to the safety of your children. While the urge to share a photo of them beaming in their first day of school outfit may sound tempting, you may want to save it for the family group chat. And if resisting the urge to post a back-to-school pic on socials is too great, at the very least, skip the sign.
Megan Quinn is a writer with a bachelor's degree in English and a minor in Creative Writing. She covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on justice in the workplace, personal relationships, parenting debates, and the human experience.
