Need Some Reassurance Picture Taken of Child

Hi guys.

Having a bit of an anxiety attack I’m not gonna lie.

Me and the wife were just in Liverpool and walking back with our little one back to the car. Busy it’s Friday night and the sun’s out.

We crossed paths with this couple who I would say were aged 60/65. Now Lily gets lots of attention. Gorgeous happy blonde 2 year old with amazing curls. We’re kinda used to it.

They stopped us and commented saying she’s gorgeous but then asked for a picture of her. My wife panicked and said yes and I was sort of caught off guard myself. She THEN asked if she could have a picture with her. So she crouched down and had a picture.

Woman seemed normal. Guy a bit weird, ridiculously tanned. But beforehand they asked where were from and I said and now they know where we live.

I’m just freaking out and ABSOLUTELY devastated and ashamed of myself for not protecting her and just saying no. Who seriously asks for pictures with her. Seriously freaking out. I looked all over for them afterwards trying to track them down to delete them but couldn’t find them. Now her picture is permanently on this strangers phone. I feel sick to my stomach

Am I over reacting and there are genuinely nice people out there who just love kids or have a right to be concerned here?

Lesson learned to not agree to something you are uncomfortable with.

But I genuinely don’t see the harm.  You don’t have asafeguarding issue that you’ve mentioned.  Nor are they grooming your little girl.  It’s likely innocent that your baby reminded them of their own babies or grandchildren.

But don’t be afraid to say no.  The older your kids get, the easier it is - promise!

Thanks KFDancer. I’ll admit I’ve head the phrase safeguarding before but unsure what it means.

I was chatting to the guy and I looked as she was about to take a picture and she said ‘I have permission from your wife’. I just feel sick.

Just trying to tell myself they’re just nice people but you hear terrible things about auctions on the dark web and all that stuff

I wouldn't worry about it. They asked for permission beforehand. If there was anything dodgy, more likely they wouldn't have asked. It is easy enough to take covert photos.

And you do have a photo of your wife and daughter on your profile here. You've provided more than enough information on this forum for anyone to dox you, if one wanted to.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

The vast majority of nutters are just nutters.

I just say, "No habla ingles" whenever approached by people I am not interested in dealing with.

Thanks KFDancer. I’ll admit I’ve head the phrase safeguarding before but unsure what it means.

I was chatting to the guy and I looked as she was about to take a picture and she said ‘I have permission from your wife’. I just feel sick.

Just trying to tell myself they’re just nice people but you hear terrible things about auctions on the dark web and all that stuff

The most common element of safeguarding is when you are trying to keep your child’s Whereabouts confidential to keep the child safe from someone who is not allowed in their life.  Think abusive parent that the other parent has managed to get away from and harm could occur if they were “found” by the abusive parent.

The most common element of safeguarding is when you are trying to keep your child’s Whereabouts confidential to keep the child safe from someone who is not allowed in their life.  Think abusive parent that the other parent has managed to get away from and harm could occur if they were “found” by the abusive parent.

I believe this has been proven to be true. If a person is going to harm you or your children it will almost certainly be a guy you know well.

They say just having a stepladder in your house raises the probability of serious injury by like 1000%, but we overlook these sorts of dangers for the more exotic.

I saw this post and thought "Kidnapping children to order and selling them on the dark web?  Is that a thing?" and did a bit of Googling. 

Happily, I can report that it is not something that happens.  Unless you are an attention seeking underwear model whose story is dubious at best, Google had no evidence of a single case. 

I think you can rest easy.

Thank you everyone for their reassurance.

Lesson learned and this will not be happening again