'I See You Have a Family Decal on Your Car. Now I Will Kidnap Your Kids!'

There seem to be two types of people in the world... those who think those stickers are cute and those who get a stomach ache just looking at the little flock of sea turtles on the back of a car. I happen to be in the latter category. I can't explain why, but those stickers make me want to lose my lunch.

Anyway, the ones with the names have always creeped me out. Why do people want to announce their child's name to people driving down the highway? The point above about an evil-doer being able to use the names to lure a child occurred to me the first time I saw stickers like that. Is it likely, no -- but why chance it for vanity-sake?

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What's going ON with my comments here? I posted twice and they are nowhere to be seen. Oh, well.

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Lenore, I'm usually nodding my head (and chuckling) right along with you, happy to see someone writing about parenting they way I like to see it.

I love those little stickers and think they're clever and adorable. I would love to have them on my car. As much as I'd like to use them, I just won't.

We live our life and there is no doubt that there are children in our home. We just don't advertise too many details to folks who have no right or business knowing them.

In the end, those stickers are just indicative of our "I'm so special" mentality. I try not to buy into that mindset (even though I have the most adorable, talented and sweet kids around).

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I don't feel my car is a place to put my family history on. But thats just me. We see them all the time people put in Memory of....or the school stickers of how their child is a super student.....or the family stickers of each child, their interest, and how many pets they have. I don't agree with putting names of any of your family so people can use them. I think that is wrong. I think for some of us-since we aren't criminals-and don't think like them, we don't see the dangers. Their is a great difference in using Caution and being paranoid. Just knowing your enviroment- such as city life is different than rural. Apartment life is different than a neighborhood life. For me I love my family-they come first. Do I need to tell the world everytime I get in my car-no. I like my privacy.

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Being proud of your kids is fine but posting their names (or photos for that matter) is dangerous. I don't see a problem with a my kids honor roll or whatever, nor is there a problem with the little soccer ball, baseball, cub scout whatever I think its kind of silly but that's an opinion. Just keep their names and likenesses off it. All you paranoids out there think about this. Freaky pedophile sees the my kids honor roll what's he going to do? It's very unlikely he'll follow you home so what next is he going to run your plate? Again unlikely. People really read the real stories not the occasional sensationalized kidnap story, the real stories about who does the molesting, and most of the kidnapping. It isn't the person who saw the bumper sticker, it's the one with access to a kid whose parent's aren't careful, a boyfriend, step parent, casual date, relative, ie: someone they know, worse someone they know that a lazy parent told them to trust. Trust me as a counselor for 20 years to the victims the perp has been a stranger significantly less than someone they were "expected/ required" to trust.

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Let's use some common sense. If a pedophile did see stickers on your car that indicated a family with one or more kids, would he want to follow that car to church, the grocery store, the dry cleaners, the post office, and the gas station before going to school?

Probably not.

On the other hand, I do see something that is a little bit disturbing, putting kids names in big plain letters on backpacks. If a pedophile were to follow a kid walking home (or on a field trip or even on vacation, such as an airport), he knows the kid's name.

The solution is put put your child's initials on a backpack. Your child can identify his backpack, yet Mr. Stranger Danger won't see your child's name.

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Better yet, instead of burying their toys, bury the kids to protect them! It's a scary world out there!

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If I hear someone say "What if..." followed by some crazy fear inspired tirade, one more time I'm going to burst into flame.

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Honestly, I just find those stick figure stickers on cars obnoxious and annoying. Maybe it's because I'm an unmarried 25 year old instead of a mother of 3...so there's no little people to be proud of. At the same time, isn't it obvious you have kids if you have a minivan?

I don't think these stickers encourage creepers to stalk you. I think anything including names could be a little more dangerous because it makes it easier for them to convince children that they know them. I also am pretty sure that, unless you live on the ground floor, the chance that a scumbag will use the "firefighters save kid here" as a guide.

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Here's the comment I posted in response to that question:

"Years ago, parents used to put up placards in their children's bedroom windows to let firemen know where they were in case of fire. That proved dangerous because pedophiles also knew which bedrooms the children were in. "

Good grief. Can anybody give me one single, solitary example of a child who was abducted because of one of these placards? I strongly doubt it.

Going by this person's so-called "logic", we need to completely eradicate from our homes and cars any and all signs that we have children. So from now on, no toys, swingsets, playhouse, or any other trappings of childhood in the back yard. All curtains must remain closed at all times, lest these swarms of pedophiles catch a glimpse through a window and see something that might reveal the resence of a child. Probably a good idea to just brick up your windows entirely, actually. In fact, it's best to not let the children ever leave the house; a pedophile might see them while lurking behind the bushes. In fact, we need to outlaw bushes, hedges, and trees, so as to ensure these hordes of dangerous predators have nothing to hide behind as they lurk in waiting to seize your child from your loving grasp the minute you turn your back.

And of course, talking to anybody you don't know is now entirely out of the question; you might accidentally let slip that you have children, and before you know it, seedy-looking men in grubby trenchcoats driving nondescript white vans will be lined up around the block.

In fact, if you're so insanely paranoid about the slightest possibility of something bad happening to your children, if you're so far beyond reason that you actually give credence to the nonsensical idea that a sticker in your car window can and will result in your children being abducted from your house, you're probably better off not having children at all.

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I can't believe people would put these stickers on their car! Absurd! Do you know what those creeps would do? Do you think you are going to get a new one? Seriously now, putting stickers on your car limits the number of people who want to purchase your vehicle. The car dealer isn't going to give you so much for your trade in because he wants to make more of a profit. So the creep at the dealership is going to swindle you on the trade in.

In short, my biggest fear of vehicle ornaments is curb appeal.

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"But when you put your young children's names on the back of the car as in the soccerball, basketball, volleyball decals it makes it that much easier to appear to know those kids. A person with bad intentions can approach them BY NAME."

So, you don't call your kids by name when you're out and about?

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Perhaps we should start referring to them by code names? Or the Doctor Suess approach; Thing 1 and Thing 2?

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I love the terror about people being able to somehow learn your child's name! Like all kids, I got the anti-kidnapping spiel from my parents (though they were not obsessive or weird about it) and it included a note that "it doesn't matter if the person knows your name, or your parents name, that doesn't mean they're a friendly person."

When I was a kid, we all had passwords. If our parents had to send someone to talk to us or take care of us or pick us up in an emergency, they'd know a specific word that indicated they talked to your parents. An incredibly simple system that I don't remember ever being used in my childhood, but provided me with black and white clarity about who I should and shouldn't go with. Are today's kids so addlebrained that they can't understand simple concepts like that? Must we protect them from the possibility that a person might know their name, which would make that person totally indistinguishable from a trusted loved one? When did we decide that children were so incredibly incompetent?

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familywatchdog.us/ShowMap.asp

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Stephanie, it's not just you. I'm a 44-year-old mother of 2 and find them VERY annoying. Nothing wrong with being proud of your kid, but you don't have to distract the rest of us with it.

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I completely disagree with this article.

Will any of you deny the presence of evil people who will stalk children?

Will any of you say that no one has ever been followed home by a strange car?

Will any of you deny that children have been abducted or raped as a result of giving away too much information on MySpace or Facebook?

Will any of you disagree that you are putting unecessary information (which is in many ways similiar to the information given out on the internet) on the back of your car?

Will any of you say that this infomation cannot also be used by wicked people?

No. You cannot. Because if you did, you would be denying the tragedy experienced by families of victims. I agree that it is unhealthy to be paranoid, but why take the risk? Additonally, the "display" of toys on a lawn is different. In many communities, neighbors look out for one another. Besides, a child at home is more easily defended than a child at a softball game. In this circumstance, someone could call the child's name or identify them by their number (displayed on the back of a vehicle), ask them about the season, and then offer to buy them a treat at the concession stand. It stands to reason that the information you choose to exhibit can be used for evil.

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Oh boy! It really makes me upset to see parents(like some soccer moms) posting their family's in stickers-I know your thinking "really? there just stickers!"-but think about what most of the logical people posted on this page- pedophiles could know your childrens names, school, what they do after school(soccer, basketball, dance, etc.), and they could know you have children. And anyway why would you want to put it out there to the whole world? That's just creepy to me! I think parents should not display anything on or in their cars, lawns or windows about their kids...it's for your kids safety! Why don't you put their toys in a toy box, in the garage, or just leave that stuff at home?

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There is a hotly contested discussion happening in the "moms like me", national water cooler, under the topic "Why would you put your kid's name on the back of your car window????"

I have been a fan of Free Range Kids for awhile and remembered this section - so I may have paraphrased some of what I remembered - thank you for the info!

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