On The Juggle, Wall Street Journal momblogger Cybele Weisser worried in print this morning about all the photos of their kid she and her husband post to flickr. By the time I got around to posting about it tonight, the comments had filled with recriminating shudders about stalkers, kidnappers, perverts, and exhibitionists. [The last one refers to parents who don't restrict blogs, stories, and online photos to friends and family, by the way.]
Not to get all righteous about it, but almost all the comments are blinkered, confined to the parents' POV, without much consideration for the kids'. As anyone who reads DT can tell, we made a conscious decision to keep our kids' names and photos private.
At first, my thought was to help the kid manage her future Google searches, so that she'd have at least a chance of not having to discuss her toilet training at a first date or first job interview. It's her online, informational life; we're just temporary stewards of it. And how public the she'll want to be as she gets older will be her choice.
Other parents manage their kid's online presence very differently, and that's fine. As long as they think it through and consider the kid's well-being, it's really nobody's business. Unless they decide to make it all our business, of course.
Tried Kinzin.com yet? I have an article in 24hrs Vancouver on it tomorrow.
It will also be posted to http://www.cyberbuzz.com