Anyone thinking pre-school/reception at Allfarthing in Sept? Post Reply

[GuyD73]

This is quite a way off but our daughter will be four in September and will hopefully be going to pre-school at Allfarthing. Does anyone in the group have the same plans? Thought it might be an idea to arrange some playdates so that the children already have some established friendships when they arrive and make the transition to a new nursery less scary! Do drop me a text if so 07810 753 815 or email guy@faircatch.co.uk, thanks (PS Daughter is currently at Kids Unlimited Wandsworth & we live on Geraldine road)

[Mrs Contractor Mum]

Hello Guy,

On a completely unrelated topic; are you sure you wanted to post that much personal information on a public facing website? You have basically published, what your child looks like, the nursery they go to, where you live and other identifiers that anyone with less than decent intentions can look at and possibly act upon.

I appreciate its your data so you can put it where you like but just thought I would point it out especially after the recent link Annabel posted on protecting children whilst using Minecraft.

[Pud1]

Yes, I agree. I think this post should be taken down. Sadly, the Internet s not a safe place.

[GuyD73]

Hello Mrs Contractor Mum and Pud1,
I really honestly do appreciate your concern, and thanks for your responses but I am struggling to see how my post can, in any way, put my children at risk. I can understand the dangers of minecraft, presumably an online environment where potentially ill-intentioned people could have direct contact with your child without your knowledge, bully them or try and arrange to meet them, but this is a completely different context. How might someone "act on" seeing my post? If they are not with us then they are at nursery and I can't see them being kidnapped from there! And they know which street we live on, again, how does this represent any danger? If I'm being naive, then by all means put me straight and I will both be grateful and stand corrected, but I think we can sometimes get a bit carried away by the potential risks of putting things online. Our address and pictures of my kids are generally in the public domain (on FB, linkedin) and because of the kind of business we run, on our web site and I don't see any problem at all. We tend to be pretty open and are perhaps more relaxed about these kind of things than some but where precisely is the danger...?

[Mrs Contractor Mum]

Guy, now knowing your road and the fact your child goes to a particular nursery I could start following you and your child. I could contact you to say lets meet up and befriend you. Or I could just go up to you and your child in a playground and tell you I know your child from kids unlimited and my child goes there etc. I could set up a very similar email address to yours and then email the nursery about your child to rearrange pick up. I'm not saying any of this will happen and you and the nursery won't be on guard for this but why put the risk there in the 1st place?
Facebook and LinkedIn allows you to determine who you want to access your information by closing your privacy settings whereas this is a public forum accessible to anyone anywhere. I understand when people want to advertise a business they put their contact details out to the public so they can be contacted. However, there is a difference between your business image and your personal family life.
I have worked with several child protection officers and perhaps that has made me paranoid with a skewed outlook but my only concern is ensuring no one ends up in a situation that can be avoided.
However, as I said its your data and if you are comfortable with it being in a public forum that can be seen by anyone then that is your decision.

[TheLondonette]

People, please, be more careful when you share your information! Not all people are as decent as you think!