to be annoyed that a stranger lined my children up and took their picture in the park without asking permission?

[IlanaK]

In Regent's park today with a friend. Three boys all way ahea dof us on the path scootering. A group of tourist men lined them up with the stream and trees as backdrop and took their phot before we could get to them.

They got a right telling of from me though.

Was I being unreasonable?

No!!!!! They should have asked you first for your permission.

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Mind you if they were tourists, depending where they were from, perhaps they didn't realise that we are a bit more suspicious over that sort of thing here.

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They were definately tourists so I am sure it was a cultural thing rather than a predatory thing. But if you are visint another country, surely you should be more careful.

You are being completely unreasonable. It's not the end of the world.

Not being unreasonable AT all. Not even vaguely.

I wouldn't dream of doing it in any country - and nor would most people I know of, even when they are touring.

Unless they were from ?Mars, they could well expect to have their noses boinked for doing that.

sounds like they didn't realise the implications of what they did.I don't think you are being unreasonable though.

Wouldn't bother me at all. And the other day I was taking some pics while out touristing and I realised someone's child was in the shot and suffered a moment of panic thinking 'if that's a mumsnet mum she'll probably come over now and boink my nose.'

I used to live in Singapore and it happened all the time - my two are little blonde blue eyed cuties and the locals (and tourists) used to do this all the time especially in public places like the Botanic Gardens - one Indian lady even picked one of my DD's up once to pose with her! Now we live in the Cotswolds and there are loads of Korean and Japanese tourists here, they still tend to stop and look at the DD's but usually aren't this cheeky. I do think it's a cultural thing - yes we think of it as wrong to do this without permission but they aren't doing it in a malicious way. And after all, how many westerners have been on holiday to places like vietnam or cambodia and taken photos of the "cute" local kids without necessarily asking their parents? I think you're NBU to be cross, but at the same time realise that they are not necessarily perves - they probably just thought your kids looked cute.

There's a difference between having them "in shot" and lining them up though Oenophile

do as i did in cambodia, little girls selling postcards, asked their mum, mum charged me a dollar.

Someone - harmless-looking older couple - took a picture of ds1 once when we were in the botanic garden (because he was so 'sweet' and 'lovely' and the way he was pretending to water the plants made them laugh). I made them delete it. YANBU.

YANBU unfortunately its just the society we live in. We hear about all the peadophiles etc and worry at any unusual interest in our children. They were, however, probably harmless and as others have posted, just thought they were cute in a non sinister way.

you just cant be to careful i would tell police and give them descriptions of these people you are not even allowed to photos of the school play around here where i live so i wouldnt stand for that

YANBU. I would have done the same - work in Child Protection and sadly enough might be dodgy. Personally, I would call police with description too.

I didnt realise having pictures taken was such a big thing?
I wouldnt like my ds's picture being taken by complete strangers though.
I dont want this to sound as awful as it will, but, are pictures of children, fully clothed, in a park, really what peodophiles want?

If you tried to take a picture of a child here (Ghana) without asking an adult first, you'd get a serious telling off. I've lived in Japan, too, and you wouldn't take pictures of a stranger's child without asking. It's taboo in a lot of the world, and for good reason. YANBU.

YANBU. I do think it is a sad inditement though that we think immediately of paedophiles. I am sure they were just tourists - but that does irritate me anyway. I have seen way too many western tourists doing this -taking people of local children as though they were simply part of the 'exotic' local flora and fauna. It is rude and horribly ignorant. On the rare occasions that we have taken people photos, we have always asked permission (and usually been charged money ). I just think it is sad (but not unreasonable) that our concerns are not just that someone is being ignorant, but they are being predatory.

presumably they asked your children for permission

I don't immediately think of paedophiles - in lots of parts of the world, taking someone's photo is connected with taking their spirit.

It's got an entirely different invasive potential beyond the perverted one.

No, YANBU...if it has made you feel uncomfortable then it can't be right can it? This happened at our local beach in the summer.. a group of us were watching our dc playing in the stream when a woman started taking pictures of them.. saying 'oh it's because they are so free, I'm an artist you know' - never actually asking if any of us minded. We were pretty much stunned into silence at her righteousness. And it is common for paedos to do this, people have been cautioned at this beach before.

were they Japanese ?