Sasha and Malia Obama are quite possibly the most adorable first children ever. Pictures of them smiling, laughing, kissing (who are they kissing?) and even sleeping can be found all over the Internet from the various inauguration festivities. But when Inauguration Day ended, did the press put the camera to rest?

No. And I can’t stand it.

Sasha and Malia do not deserve to be pets of the paparazzi. Their father will always be criticized—he is the president, after all—but the children need not be. The country has always enjoyed seeing images of the first children in the newspaper, but with the advent of the Internet and television, pictures of these little girls may end up in the most inappropriate places.

I am against the paparazzi in general. Living off of snapshots, these celebrity hounds don’t care what a celeb is doing when they take a picture of them. The most embarrassing images are the most popular, and most of the time these photos are ones of celebrities doing everyday things: going to the beach, sitting on their porches or getting into cars. The paparazzi capture the unpleasant aspects of these activities: wearing an unattractive bikini, smoking around children or sporting a mini skirt minus underwear.

So what does all of this have to do with Sasha and Malia? These girls should not be subjected to this kind of negative press attention. Unfortunately, they already have been: the headline "OBAMA KID MAD AT DAD" (yes, in all caps) was found in the National Enquirer the day before Obama, then a presidential candidate, would air his 30-minute campaign advertisement. Malia allegedly said, "You’re going to be on all the TVs? Are you going to interupt my TV?!"

Although the validity of these statements is unquestionable, they are clearly taken out of context. The paparazzi needed a story, so they chose to expose an innocent girl and her pre-teenage angst to the public.

The worst part of it all is that these tabloids make little preteen comments into front-cover stories. Right now it isn’t a big deal, but by the time President Obama is out of office, the girls will be in high school or just graduating from high school. I can already see the headlines: "MALIA GETS 1200 ON SAT, FREAKS OUT," "Sasha Dumped!!!" or "Malia and Sasha’s Wild Ride Down Pennsylvania Avenue."

Their parents must decide whether they should shelter the girls from the public eye or allow them to be exposed to the cruelty of the press. The girls have done nothing to deserve the harassment of the press. Until a decision is made, the paparazzi will keep their camera lenses on the girls, armed and ready to capture the fatal snapshot.