Thursday is the first day of school for Folsom and the region. It’s been a long tradition for parents to snap a photo of their little ones on their first day of school. Today, creative signs are often used to commemorate the moment, but the Folsom Police Department is reminding the community that sharing too much information has its risks.

Chalkboards and letter boards displaying children’s names, schools, and other identifying information flood social media every year when kids go back to school. While these posts are well-intended and make great keepsakes, posting them online has potential dangers that many parents don’t realize. Online predators can look for clues to try to lure children and find out what they like and their physical location.

“Back-to-school photos may reveal personal identifying information about your child. School name, grade, age, identifying features, hobbies, etc. can all be used by individuals you don’t want having that information,” the Folsom Police Department shared on Wednesday. With photos of their newest officers assigned to school resource duty, Deidre McAuliff held her own chalkboard for her first day of school, illustrating what is safe and what is not safe.

Folsom School Resource Officer Deidre McAuliff takes a moment to share the do’s and don’ts when taking and posting back to school photos.

So how can you take and post those adorable back-to-school photos safely? Over the last several years, the phrase “pause before you post” has become quite common when it comes to sharing those adorable photos of your little ones on social media, whether it’s a birthday, holiday, or such. It’s a good phrase to live by for parents. Here are a few tips that public safety and school officials recommend following for back-to-school postings:

  • Don’t share your child’s school name. All schools now have websites that include addresses. All it would take is a simple Google search to locate your child’s school. And if you do share, make sure your settings are turned to private to ensure only friends and family can see this personal information.
  • Don’t share their teacher’s name. Staff and employees are included in most school directories, making your child easy to find. Try not to post too many details about where your children go to school publicly.
  • Don’t share their “favorites,” such as color, characters, or more. If your child is contacted online, the predator can use those “favorites” to gain their trust or pretend to be friends of the family.
  • Make sure to hide logos and address numbers and signs of the specific school or location. These can be easily blurred on today’s smartphones. Always check your background to make sure you aren’t accidentally snapping location identifiers, logos, or other children who may not have consented to be posted online.

“No matter your privacy settings or who your friends are, it is best to keep personal information to a minimum,” the department adds.