I know that a lot of you are excited that your kids are embarking upon yet another year of school. But, I need to warn you, a lot of you are participating in behavior that is putting your child, or children, in danger while they are at school. You may not see that what you post on your social media pages can actually be putting your kid's safety in jeopardy.
Please stop posting pictures of your child on their first day of school and checking into the school. It's not the picture of your beaming child that's the troubling part, it's the checking into the school that's beyond dangerous. Ask yourself this, would you ever tell a stranger your home address? Probably not. You don't know them and you wouldn't want them to be able to locate you if they had not so good intentions. By checking into the school your child attends, that's pretty much exactly what you're doing. When you post a picture of your child and check into the school, you are providing potential predators all of the information they need to snatch your kid off of the playground at recess or attempt to sign them out as a family member or friend from the office. They know what your child looks like and where they will be without you.
Just because people on your Facebook are your "friends" that doesn't mean that they are trustworthy and safe. I know that I have a friend of a friend of a friend or a neighbor of a family member on their as my friend. When you post that information and photo, you are then giving unknown people, who could be dangerous, license to cause harm to your child.
A lot of you think and act like this is something that could never ever happen to them. Until it does. At that point, it is everyone else's fault and not your own. Yes, you are right, there are a whole lot of factors that go into something like this and it is never okay to cause harm to a child, whether they are your own or someone else's. But, there are things you can do and stop doing to the prevent the likelihood of stuff like this happening.
My advice is to not post stuff like this onto your own page and look out for others doing it, too. It may be hard to say, but message them and ask them to take down their status or remove the address. Share this article with them! They may not realize that their simple post on Facebook could be the difference between a good first day of school and a family catastrophe.
We all want our kiddos to have great first days of school and want to share how proud of them we are, but right out of the gate, we need to think about their academics and their safety. Not everyone is our friend and we need to remember that bone-chilling fact.
