Question:
Recently, it’s become popular for ganenets (and also rabbaim in cheder) to send photos of the goings-on in gan along with the weekly newsletter. As a ganenet, I started wondering if this is halachically permissible since the photos show all the mothers the state of the girls in the gan: who looks neat and well-groomed, and who not as much, who is always at the center of things, and who remains on the sidelines, and so on. This might be a trigger of lashon hara, such as when a mother sits with her daughter on Shabbos, points to a girl with a pacifier and a runny nose, and asks, “Who’s that?”
Answer:
There would seem to be no concern for lashon hara in the photos ganenets send to parents because it is obvious that they won’t send photos displaying extreme parental neglect or strange conduct on the part of the children, such as a girl whose dress is torn or who is lying on the floor having a tantrum. Regarding the other areas the questioner mentioned, which might imply something derogatory about the girls or their parents, this should not be cause for concern since it is known that behaviors at this age do not reflect the children’s future. Besides, there are parents who deliberately don’t invest money or energy into meticulously dressing small children going to a babysitter or gan. For these reasons, there is no problem of lashon hara in sending these photos, though, of course, one should be alert not to send photos with anything markedly irregular.
