Police warn Indiana parents to be wary of back-to-school photo trend

If you’re planning on taking photos on your child’s first day of school, there are a few things you should know before posting to social media.

Summer vacation is coming to an end. Yesterday, your kids were excited to get out of school and enjoy the summer, but now it’s gone. In less than a month, your kids will be back to school. You may have already started buying back-to-school clothes and supplies for your kids so they look good on the first day of school. For the past few years, there has been a trend on social media where parents have taken photos of their kids posing with signs for the first day of school to celebrate the first day of school. These signs may reveal more personal information about your child than you think and can be exploited by predators, scammers, and others looking to put your child, family, or finances at risk.

Be careful what you post on your first day

We have all seen such pictures on social media and maybe even taken pictures of our kids holding back-to-school signs. These signs have information such as the school name, classroom, grade, age, etc. While the idea behind it is cute and innocent, if this information falls into the wrong hands, it could put children at risk.

Posts from law enforcement agencies have been circulating in recent days warning parents not to share too much information in these photos, and while the posts are several years old, the warning still applies.

Another example comes from the Lafayette Police Department in Indiana, which you can see below.

Before posting photos of your child’s first day of school, here are some things to consider. This doesn’t mean you should stop posting these photos, just be careful about what information you reveal. You might omit certain responses on discussion boards or blur them before posting them online.

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