Child saftey issues on Disboard and WDW

[concerned mom]

I'm new and I have a question. It seems to be a very popular idea to get the lime green things and paste them on your hotel window and door. Since most of us who travel to Disney are families with kids of varying ages, is anyone afraid they could be attracting unwanted attention to their children? Is anyone afraid of attracting the attention of an online child predator AKA perve? It seems to go against what John Walsh and the other advocates of child safety preach. Is anyone else concerned they could either be talking to someone who misrepresents themselves and letting strangers into your hotel room , or engaging in a conversation with someone who could do harm, just because you or they spotted a Mickey head lime green paint chip? Sure, we are all going to the happiest place on earth but where there's kids, there's predators. You won't see child predators posting on a nursing home message board but they may be posting here and misrepresenting themselves on a Disney message board. For this reason, I also refuse to post pictures of my family and kids on this board or anywhere else online. Any thoughts on this serious issue?

 

[Step]

Yep, and your babysitter or kid's uncle could be doing these things secretly behind your back too. In fact child predators are often related or close, much the way rapists are. More rapes occur with boyfriends than total strangers.

http://www.ncptsd.va.gov/facts/specific/fs_child_sexual_abuse.html

Most often, sexual abusers know the child they abuse but are not relatives. In fact, about 60% of perpetrators are nonrelative acquaintances, such as a friend of the family, babysitter, or neighbor.

About 30% of those who sexually abuse children are relatives of the child, such as fathers, uncles, or cousins.

Strangers are perpetrators in about 10% of child sexual abuse cases.

Don't leave your kid alone with a DISer if you are worried. All you can do is take precautions. If you are worried about Lime green mickey heads than you don't have to put them up.

 

[fan_of_small_world]

While I'm sure someone is thinking the OP is just , I have to agree with OP's sentiment. I take care to not use real names in my posts, I would never post pictures of my children, and I don't mention the town in live in. If I meet any dissers in WDW, I'll be happy to say "hello" and talk with them (and I even plan on wearing my lime green Mickey head!), but we won't be giving out last names nor will I give my Dis name, either. I also was surprised at how many people participate in the "fairy godmailer" thing. While I'm sure most people here are not a risk, I wouldn't feel safe giving my children's names and addresses to a stranger. You just don't know who the other person really is.

And, while I do realize that most instances of abuse are done by someone already known to the vicitm, the key word is most. I won't take unnecessary chances.

JHMO.