I have made the decision to remove all photos of my children where they are recognizable from this blog. In my flickr account I have went through over two years of photos making all pics of my kids visible to family only.
I got too comfortable online not unlike many parents out there.
Since I went through and made my kids photos private on flickr I have noticed many other parents doing the same. The warm fuzzy days online in regard to kids and photos is over.
It is not a good idea no matter how you look at it.
The nice thing is the photos that I made private on flickr are now showing as unavailable on my blog. I have starting reworking posts that had pictures of my kids in them and out right deleting some. It will take me some time but after it is all done it will be set right.
Besides, I have been meaning to clean up my blog for over a year now. Boy am I lazy!
Pumpkin,
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. Thinking I should do the same. Thinking maybe I’ve been too nonchalant.
Might I ask what prompted you to do this?
Chris
Chris,
It is really not one thing in particular. From the beginning I wasn’t sure about putting up public pics of my kids on flickr because there are so many people that use flickr. I felt safe with my blog but my blog is getting more traffic. So, now I am rethinking my comfort level. The longer I have my blog and the more posts I make it will grow not only because of readers but searches from google and the like.
Recently, I had someone favorite a pic of my children with their father on flickr and it made me uncomfortable…you can find out about it all here.
http://myfrenchwindow.com/flickr-and-my-childrens-photos/
There are several issues in regard to photos parents put on flickr that are surfacing lately. People are taking them and using them without the parents permission on Orkut and setting up fake accounts using names like Candy. It is sick.
With all this going around in my head I started checking the hits to this blog through search engines. Someone was searching for “childrens pictures” not to meantion all the other weird and crazy searches I get. But, that one did it even if it was a nice old lady who wanted to see some kid pics to brighten her day.
I can’t control who comes here and I don’t want to.
But, I can control who sees my kids pictures or steals pics of them off my website.
It is too easy to right click on a photo and download it. That is another concern that I have.
All the little things add up and make me feel uncomfortable about putting my childrens beautiful faces up on my blog. I have learned that I should trust my gutt feelings. They are usually right on the mark.
I hope that helps. When it comes right down to it you have to do what makes you feel comfortable as a parent. I know some people will continue to blog photos of their kids and others will do what I am doing. And, that’s ok.
However, since all of this started with flickr I have changed my mind on blogging photos of children and I personally don’t think it is a good idea if your blog is public.
Thanks Pumpkin,
You’ve given me some more to chew on.
Chris
You are welcome. It isn’t an easy balancing this whole internet thing with kids. I know.
Good choice, my blog is pretty quiet and i check my visits every day. i’m so proud of them that i would like to let them on my blog, i’m gonna reconsider that.
I know what you are saying…I have family that reads my blog and long time readers that I have feel close to. I would love to be able to share my kids beautiful faces with them. That sucks. All the bad people ruin it for all the others.