School pictures are both an activity that students look forward to and dread at the same time. Some students seem to forget the day that school pictures will be taken and an image of them with bad hair and clothing can be preserved forever in one school picture. If parents know the day school pictures will be taken, they can help the student prepare for the photo. For some students however, the day of school pictures is just another day at school and they do not care about being groomed or dressed for the occasion.

Most school pictures offer different backgrounds from which the students can choose, so all the photos do not end up looking the same. There are also school pictures taken for special events such as senior graduation, sporting events, and proms.

One great program that involves school pictures, whether they are good or not, is the SmileSafe Kids program. Many companies that take school portraits offer this program as a way of helping keep your child safe. So many children go missing each year (perhaps as many as 800,000 a year) and SmileSafe Kids is designed to provide a child ID with a current picture of that child. By having a current photo, the chances of recovering an abducted child is much greater. SmileSafe Kids provides each child that has school portraits taken with two safety ID cards. These cards are provided free of charge and your privacy is always protected. If your child goes missing, the photo is used by law enforcement in search efforts. The program also offers safety tips to parents and children to help protect them from predators. The only requirement to participate in this program (if the portrait company is involved in the program) is that your child show up on photo day and be photographed.