It is exciting and beautiful to follow how your own child grows and develops. Thanks to smartphones, growing up can be permanently documented and shared with others. However, there are a few things you should keep in mind for the sake of your child. Answering the following questions will help you decide how to deal with photos of your school-age child.
Your child is probably used to being photographed from an early age. Maybe it likes it, maybe not always and not in every situation. Be mindful of when and how you photograph your child, especially if you want to share the photo with others. When it comes to forwarding a photo, your child should also agree to this. Think about whether you would have wanted certain photos of you as a child to circulate on the web.
Children should always be seen clothed in photos and not in a ridiculous or even embarrassing situation. If other children are visible in the photo, you must obtain their parents’ consent.
Consider whether it is always necessary to see your child’s face. We’ve put together some tips on how to take creative photos of children without being completely obvious about the child.
Children also have rights. They can and should have a say when it comes to themselves and their well-being. Photos online can violate children’s privacy. Schoolchildren are old enough to understand what it means when photos are distributed on the Internet. Talk about it together and don’t make decisions on your own. You should not publish a photo of your child without his or her consent!
If your child (later) takes and shares photos on their own smartphone, they should be aware of the possible consequences. Educate your child in good time and, as a role model, handle the dissemination of photos sensitively yourself.
On the one hand, there is the question of the channel through which children’s photos can be shared and what permissions other people have to see these photos. There are platforms on which children’s photos, e.g. from Facebook profiles, are collected and made available to others. Strangers can then use these photos for their own purposes – in the worst case, they are pedocriminals.
The more people can see your child’s photos, e.g. via the status function on WhatsApp, the more likely it is that they will simply be copied and forwarded – and thus fall into the wrong hands. Therefore, use the privacy settings on the smartphone and in the respective app so that only a restricted circle can see the photos.
On the other hand, make absolutely sure that photos of children are not published in combination with other information such as their full name or place of residence. With the first photo on the web, your child gets a digital identity that becomes more and more pronounced over the years. Your child can’t undo that later.
If grandma and grandpa or other relatives don’t live nearby, it’s nice if they can still see how their little one is growing up. This can be done quickly and easily via photos on WhatsApp and the like. Nevertheless, you should agree rules with family and friends when sharing photos online. You could consider agreeing on a messenger such as Signal, where photos are not automatically saved in the photo gallery of the recipient’s cell phone. You may also agree not to share photos that show your child’s face at all, but only show them in person. Further information on the distribution of children’s photos online can be found in the brochure “Sharing is not Caring” from the Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk.
