You may have noticed I’ve started posting up photos of the kids again here and at my Flickr account. To be honest this hasn’t been easy to do, not since German pedophiles targeted this blog last July.
I ripped the originally targeted photo of Riley down here and at Flickr. What I didn’t say was in the days – weeks – after ‘they’ kept coming here. Not finding the original photo (not that it was that risque, but still, it didn’t matter I suppose) they then stuck their noses into my archives. It was intrusive and it was agonising.
And yet I see other blogs, hundreds of them, posting up photos of their children and I hope the same thing doesn’t happen to them.
But in that same act, I also see a kind of bravery that cannot be denied. Sure, criticism has been levelled at all parenting blogs for daring to post any photos of our children at all, but I ask what is the alternative? I mean really? If we were all to just stop we would be denying our need to profess, to declare, the beauty of our offspring and their idiosyncrasies, their joy and their potential. And what kind of world would that be? To let the murkier minority defeat that which was pure of intent and born of pride? Not a world I want to be a part of.
That said, there should be boundaries. At least in my case I feel more comfortable that I have defined some. Each person’s or family’s case is different. We all are. I don’t judge anyone who doesn’t post photos, just the same as I don’t if they choose to use pseudonyms or real names.
Like Ben Lee says, We’re all in this together. My eyes are opened now – they’re not blind to risk. I don’t think they ever were, but I do have a bit of perspective. In years to come, I’ll face lots of other questions – when or if I’ll stop talking about the kids period, let alone post a shot or two. Such is the challenge of blogging for the long-term, I suppose. If I’m still around that long.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
How awful that parents have to watch what they put up of their children in case paedophiles find them.
Jean-Luc Picard’s last blog post..Emergency Command Hologram (Part Two)
Well said… I had a small incident a while back that made me look again at how I blog about my children and other people I care about. I was determined not to stop posting photos of my children but I think simply being aware of the implications of doing so and taking the steps you feel are necessary to keep everyone safe and happy is important for all.
You have more nerve than I do. I won’t even mention my daughter’s name in my blog. Took me a long time just to mention that she even exists.
I want to know how you found out about the pedophiles? I post pictures, but I use fake names and don’t reveal my location. (Although we’re so rural that even people who know us can’t find us.)
But I also believe we’re in more danger driving back and forth to town on the narrow unmaintained unlit uninhabited roads. It’s just an ugly world in a lot of ways, but it’s beautiful too, and if we succumb to the ugly, life will be very very sad.
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