New parents and relatives are often particularly proud of their new addition and often want to share their happiness with the whole world. But don’t lose sight of your baby’s personal rights. Answering the following questions will help you decide how to handle photos of your child.
Your child will only learn over time what photos are – and even later what it means when images are shared online. Therefore, for the time being, you have to make the decision on how it should look like in photos and who is allowed to see certain images. Before you forward, share or post a photo of your child that you find funny, for example, you should therefore consider whether you would have liked it if your parents had shared such a picture of you.
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 the consent of their parents or legal guardians.
Photos of children can also be beautiful without them being clearly recognizable, for example if they are photographed from behind or only a section is visible. You can find more tips on how you can take and distribute beautiful children’s photos in a creative way without infringing personal rights in our article Creative children’s photos.
Also, think about the channels through which photos are distributed. If you share an image on WhatsApp, for example, it can be forwarded easily and unnoticed – and possibly fall into the hands of others. Then you don’t know what will happen to it.
To avoid this, there are often various setting options in apps or on platforms that restrict visibility or the group of recipients. Also regularly check your own privacy and security settings! Avoid posting a photo of your child in combination with exact data such as name or place of residence.
It’s perfectly normal to want to capture beautiful moments with your child and share them with others. But not every photo has to be shared or published on the internet. It can be just as nice to show the pictures at a family celebration and enjoy them together. Discuss with family, friends, babysitters etc. how you would like photos of your child to be handled. (You can find suggestions on this from the Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk, for example.) Because once photos have been shared via WhatsApp or other messengers, they can easily be forwarded unnoticed.
Tip: With messenger apps such as Signal or Telegram, photos are not automatically saved in the recipient’s photo gallery!
Discuss this with the other parent or guardian. But children also have a right to co-determination, privacy and to decide what happens to pictures of them. That’s why you should involve your child as early as possible. If it is still very young, you can ask if it likes itself in the photo before forwarding it. From kindergarten age, you should ask more precisely, e.g. whether grandma and grandpa are also allowed to see and have a picture. Respect your child’s decision, even if it does not correspond to your opinion. Further information on the distribution of children’s photos online can be found in the brochure “Sharing is not Caring” from the Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk.
