A Cheating Stepchild

[motherprayer]

I am a photographer, and my 14 year old stepdaughter just called me and asked me if she could use one of my pictures for her photography class. I asked her, "Aren't you supposed to be using your OWN photos?" She said, "Well, yeaa..." So I told her no, and then I called my husband. I told him that with digital photography being what it is nowadays, he should call her teacher, and his response was "I'm not going to snitch on my daughter."
WHAT!!!!!
So now my dilemma is this: Do I call the school myself, call her mother (with whom I do NOT have a good relationship), or do I do nothing?

Serious advice is needed please!

 

[SarKris]

Thats a hard one. If your stepdaughter is caught plagerizing, she could be suspended or kicked out of school. She would definitely fail the class. I would pray about it, then do what you feel is best. Your work is copywrited and is owned by you. If my stepdaughter wanted to pass off one of my stories as her own, I would have a hard time figuring out what to do as well.

 

[homeofmew]

Depends what the photo was for, sometimes they ask you to alter it or whatever.

I think you should think twice about this.

My parents hovered over my shoulder for all my class work and corrected my homework before I handed it in all through middle school. They did this to a point where i didn't like it. Even later in high school they would grab an English paper and mark it all up and use words and language I wouldn't use.

Also it also depends if the photo is copyrighted. If the teacher finds out you won't need to step in.

 

[QR1]

"I'm not going to snitch on my daughter."

Sounds to me like him putting trying to stay "good with" his daughter above good parenting. This is the hard thing about being a step parent. I would NOT interefere in this specific case, but I would start trying to have "morality" conversations . . . step up that angle. As a step parent in someways you have less voice in other ways, less to loose. Always strive for the child's benefit and you'll be the winner . . . . eventually.

 

[eatenbylocusts]

I wonder how it all turned out. Just want to say that calling the other parent with whom you don't have a good relationship sounds like the worst possible thing to do.

 

[motherprayer]

It ended reasonably well. I deactivated my Facebook, and then deleted all my pics taken with my DSLR, so as to remove the temptation. I never did call the mom, as I agree with someone else's thought that it isn't a good idea.

Lol I had forgotten about this post

 

[cottonhoney]

Obviously this is dealt with, but I wanted to suggest in a situation like this that you could offer to spend some time with her taking pictures. It's great bonding time, make it fun, and she can learn to take her own amazing picture and be proud of it. This lesson is incredibly important. Stopping her once isn't teaching her something wonderful, she may try it again in another situation.