What ever are things coming to

[wendilla]

Went to see my grandson in his school xmas play.I know the reason why but it's sad when we can't video our own children especially at this time of year.

[isymcd]

Its all to do with child protection laws. Gone a bit crazy but is meant to prevent 'sickos' filming/photgraphing kids for the wrong reasons

[weeal]

yep the world is in a terrible state isnt it, it is a shame you couldnt video it, they should have a school representative who could video these things and provide copies

[wendilla]

Most schools have this policy now .

[redcrx]

were you given the choice. If every parent agreed then i dont see why you wouldnt be allowed to film.

In the case of not being able to, do the schools film it and then sell copies?

[delboy3]

Tell them to get stuffed. There is no law against photographing or videoing children in everyday situations.

Last night on local TV (north west) a couple complained that they were told by some jobsworth ****** not to take photos of their own little child in a public park. When they protested, the council apologised and said their employee had misinterpreted the law.

Go ahead, stand your ground and see how quickly these idiots back down.

[Pippa68]

I videoed mine. It must have been the schools decision.

[isymcd]

All parents need to sign to give consent for their children to be photogrpahed/filmed.Maybe some hadn't given consent.

I teach Child Devlopment and in the coursework, the students are only allowed to include photo's in their work if the child face in not showing and have parents consent.

[Pippa68]

The parents at our school always have a form to fill in periodically, either giving or not giving their consent to their childs images being used on the internet or school literature.

The same goes for photographing school concerts or plays.

[weeal]

Its all a bit sad tho isnt it. Innocence has gone.

[gina32]

on the local news the other day it said some bloke was told he couldnt take pics of his son at the skating rink and if he continued they would call the police, how pathetic is this country getting, soon we wont have any memories of our children growing up and the things they did

[Pippa68]

I took pics of my kids at the skating rink during the summer! everyone was...

I think it is more to do with other folk poking their oar in rather than any law.

[aims1202]

I also was really upset i couldnt video or take photos of my boy in his first nativity at school. They did apologise to me and said they had taken some which we could buy. For me its not the same. The reason is that they send a letter home and parents have to sign it to say they dont mind photos being taken of their children. If they dont send it back it means they do mind. Because some parents said they didnt want photos taken and some didnt send it back that meant we couldnt take any of the play in case these children were in them.
I think its stupid, out of order and very unfair to the parents who do want photos of their own children in the play.
I would have just taken them and was going to but my mum said to me they would probably throw you out and you'd miss the play. She was right, it isnt against the law but if they dont want you to do it they can make you leave.
Are there really parents out there that think the other parents are going to misuse the photos of children in the play? And what harm can come to your child from being in someone elses photo?

[Octavius]

Did nobody ever watch the Chris Morris Brass Eye Paedophile Special? Although lambasted at the time, It tried to demonstrate the extent of hysteria surrounding the issue to the point where people reacted irrationally.

Parents have the right to film their children; those who wish to keep their children off camera (or when a consent form has not been provided) will have to withdraw them from activities where videos are likely to be made and photographs taken.

[tigwig]

my daughters school has the right idea. we were told that cameras and video recorders could be used and those parents who didn't like it were told that their children couldn't take part in the actual performance only the rehearsals

[saxy_jag]

I think most teachers and head teachers would like to allow parents to video/photograph school productions freely. The problem is these days that you never know when some obnoxious gti or disgruntled divorcee is going to play up and sue the school for allowing pictures of their darling to be published.

I keep a website and publish a newsletter for a concert band that I'm in. When children join, their parents are told by letter that we sometimes take pictures and shoot footage that may be used for either of these, and that if they (the parents) do not return the attached form objecting to this, then they are deemed to have given us the permission to reproduce them.

However, the children in the pictures are never named individually, and I usually double-check before I use them in any case.

[Scarlett]

What we do at Stagecoach is send a letter out inviting parents to our show, and have a line at the end saying please tell us if you have any objection to your child being filmed. Nobody ever does, so the kids get to perform, and the parents get to video it. If the parents did object, they would be a bit odd, sending their kids to a performing arts school! But either way, that's how we do it.