Clay Center, KS- School supplies, check. Meeting the teacher, check. First day of school photos? Every parent is excited right now that their child is heading back to school, but did you know that you could be putting your child and family at risk for predators by posting pictures of your child with the chalk board signs?

Many parents across Kansas are taking their child’s obligatory first day of school photos with the chalk board signs that give the kids name, age, school, teacher, and even their favorite things. But what many parents don’t realize is they are sharing this information with child predators also.

Many people believe that their social media page is safe because they are posting it on their private accounts and that only those people who they are friends with can see the images, however people can download those images and share them.

Predators look for clues on children to be able to gain trust with them.  And giving information about who they are and where they live, gives information to these strangers that can be used for harm.

Here are some tips to help keep your little one and family safe:

• Never reveal their full name
• Don’t give their address and phone number
• Don’t give their teachers name or the school
• Don’t share their favorite activities or food

Instead, post the picture with your child’s first name only and their grade.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children say that attempted abductions happen more often when children go to or from school and that school-aged children are more likely to experience an attempted abduction on school days.

So, before you go posting those back-to-school photos, think, is this something someone can use to lure my child. And to help keep your children safe, give them code words that only the person picking up and the child will know.

Janet Schnell covers state and local news for KFRM and KCLY. You can follow the KCLY or KFRM Facebook page for more stories.

KFRM covers news from across the state of Kansas, the Northern part of Oklahoma, and Southern part of Nebraska.

KCLY coverage area includes the nine counties of Clay, Cloud, Dickinson, Geary, Marshall, Ottawa, Riley, Republic, and Washington.

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