Those of us who are parents find it pretty easy to take pictures of our little ones, and it's sure fun to be able to use things like camera phones and digital cameras to snap quick shots. Now Duracell and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children are teaming up to give parents a free Child Safety Toolkit -- electronically.
You can download the free guide at the Duracell website, but here are some quick tips:
- Keep photos current -- they should be no more than six months old.
- Make the photo a color close-up. Frame your child's head and shoulders in the shot, and don't use any special effects or coloring (sepia tones, etc).
- Go solo. Don't include other people or any animals in the photo. Take a separate shot of each child if you have several.
- Save digital ID images at the highest possible resolution (200 to 600 dpi).
Why go digital? It's easier to keep current, and it's super easy for law enforcement agencies to transmit quickly, whether from town to town or state to state.
This is excellent advice for parents, but also for grandparents! I have tried to get both grandaughters to remember our first and last names. I remind them if they get lost in a store they will have to have someone find us. They both laughed when I said if the Customer Service desk says "Will Grandma please come to the customer service desk?" that 800 Grandmas will show up. But they understand it is important to have this information.
It might be wise to keep pictures of each child/grandchild on your cellphone, so they can easily be identified if separated from you.
Posted by: Cheryl Hart | October 7, 2006 8:19 PM | Permalink to Comment