Child's monogram/name on things...is this really a concern?

[tcherjen]

If concerned you could do initials.

 

[kjw42]

Being a child of the 80's I totally get the concern, but I don't think avoiding monograming would be that much of a deterrent.

 

[RustManFan]

We DISigners on the Creative DISigns forum create thousands of personalized images for people going to Walt Disney World and Disneyland and people don't have an issue

 

[afyoung]

Personally, I will put names on my child's gear. He'll tell his name to anyone that will listen, anyway. There have been no abductions in Disney. "Bad things" are more likely to happen with people the child knows than strangers. I don't teach "stranger danger", I teach "tricky people". If your child is in trouble, they will need help from a "stranger". I teach my son to go to police, fireman, people with nametags, or moms with kids. We play "What if ... " in the car frequently and also right as we're getting to busy places. I ensure that he remembers our name and our phone number. I show him the people who work at the location we are and the nametags they wear.

In the end, it's what you're most comfortable with, there are no right or wrong answers.

We do tricky people also. Sadly, it is usually someone who knows your child that is most likely to harm them. We also have a family code word. Our rule is that anyone who we have asked to pick them up, take them to get ice cream, help them find their lost puppy, etc. will know this code word and will have it written on a piece of paper with my signature(very distinct) on it). If they don't know the code word- do not go anywhere with them..even if the person is Grandma. I practiced this once at the ball field. I had a cousin who my kids LOVE try to get them to go home with her and her kids while I was in the bathroom. My kids (ages 7&8) really wanted to go, but refused to leave before Mommy came back from the bathroom because the cousin didn't know the code word. She even tried telling them I told her what it was but she forgot. They refused. I was very proud of them, but then she of course had to take them home with her becasue we didn't want them to think she was a liar and that we were tricking them into this lesson.

 

[UmmYeahOk]

When we were taking our 2yo for her very first time, I printed off a bunch of labels with her first and last name on it, as well as phone numbers for her mom and dad. I was thinking that if she ran off and got lost, which frequently happens at malls, a CM would see it on the back of her shirt, and be able to contact us. She wasn't very verbal at that age, and pretty mute with strangers. So its not like she could relay this information if needed.

Well, both my husband and mother thought this was a STUPID idea. Apparently child abducters were more likely to pay $100+ to enter a park just for the opportunity to possibly steal our daughter. I mentioned how often I would lose her at the mall? Well, on those days she typically was wearing a sticker on her back with her name on it anyway (as they do this at Gymboree, and we would sometimes go after)

I just gotta say, what are the odds of a kid being abducted at WDW vs getting lost? We ended up getting her traditional mouse ears with her name embroidered anyway. Apparently THATS ok.

 

[WooPigScientist]

I admit, I fought with this same issue on my kids (another child of the 80s here!). I finally decided that since my kids are quite young (preschool age), they would be with me or my husband 24/7, so how could someone knowing their name matter? My kids are also the type to tell their names to everyone and anyone completely unprompted, so I don't think a shirt will exactly be letting the cat out of the bag.

While I don't have anything picked out yet, my kids will likely be wearing at least a couple shirts with their names on them during our trip. They LOVE seeing their names on stuff and having a cast member or character call them by name will make their day!

That being said, if my kids were old enough to be apart from us in public places, I think I would feel differently. While I hope by that time to have taught the kids to think critically about situations involving strangers, being lost, etc, I would definitely feel less anxious about them being apart from me without their names being plastered everywhere.

My thought is to follow your gut. If it's going to make you anxious the whole trip, don't. If they're going to be with you or another responsible adult the whole time and you're cool with that, go for it - it's a neat memento.

Now, if only I could figure out what I'm supposed to do with their Halloween candy! The after school specials made it clear that adults should check it, but how exactly do I do that?! Eating the candy myself seems best, but for some reason they didn't like that

 

[Gracie09]

In the scheme of things I worry about with my kids, people learning their names from embroidery on a hat or shirt and then using that information to lure them away and do evil deeds while at Disney World, is on the list right around where worrying that they will be abducted by aliens. Is it in the realm of possibilities, yes. It it remotely probably, no.

 

[littleblackegg]

Children are most likely to be grabbed by a non-custodial parent or family member or a family friend. Like, overwhelmingly more likely.

 

[UmmYeahOk]

I recently took my 3yo to a large town festival. They slapped a "lost" sticker on her which basically tells people that if she's lost to bring her to such and such location. Since I kept them in her baby bag, I decided to go ahead and put the label I printed for our disney trip on her back anyway. Due to the location of the first sticker, I placed this one above, which was mostly covered up by her hair. You could tell that something was there, but you would have to brush her hair aside to see her name and contact info. At that point, a sick demented pedophile would already have her in his evil clutches, so knowing her name wouldn't matter. Plus, you could just as easily show her you had candy, and she'd approach you anyway, wanting some. Just try and teach a 3yo "Stranger Danger." But wait, not all strangers are dangerous? Supposed to find a safe adult if lost?

 

[Nancyg56]

Names on clothing? No worries at all. When the kids are young I keep them close, and by the time they are old enough that I let them out of my sight, they better know how to keep safe. We just returned for a WDW trip with my 14 YO DGD and my two young 5 and 6 YO DGD's. The best thing that we had available for our peace of mind for the little ones was the magic bands. I always took pictures of them daily in the event they did become separated from us, but they never left the room without that band. My 14 YO DGD is old enough to leave us for a short time but she is much closer to us in WDW than she is when she walks home from school each day.

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

I always went by the rule of only printing information - and that means on clothing, message boards, Facebook, etc. - that is available if you encounter us in real life. IMO, there is no need to hide a child's name - someone is going to be saying that name on the bus, getting out of a car, or just walking around. It would take only minutes of sitting near a family to determine a child's name.

 

[peg110]

It would take only minutes of sitting near a family to determine a child's name.

So very true.

There is no substitution to diligence and teaching your children about life. Sadly that means teaching them about the darker side of life too.

 

[YawningDodo]

We do tricky people also. Sadly, it is usually someone who knows your child that is most likely to harm them. We also have a family code word. Our rule is that anyone who we have asked to pick them up, take them to get ice cream, help them find their lost puppy, etc. will know this code word and will have it written on a piece of paper with my signature(very distinct) on it). If they don't know the code word- do not go anywhere with them..even if the person is Grandma. I practiced this once at the ball field. I had a cousin who my kids LOVE try to get them to go home with her and her kids while I was in the bathroom. My kids (ages 7&8) really wanted to go, but refused to leave before Mommy came back from the bathroom because the cousin didn't know the code word. She even tried telling them I told her what it was but she forgot. They refused. I was very proud of them, but then she of course had to take them home with her becasue we didn't want them to think she was a liar and that we were tricking them into this lesson.

My parents didn't go that far, but we did have a pass phrase. It was a phrase based on a bit of little-shared family history that was easy to remember but that would sound like gibberish if you didn't know the context, so it wasn't the kind of thing people would guess. The rule was that if anyone other than Mom or Dad was supposed to take us somewhere, either we'd be told about it by Mom or Dad very specifically in advance or they'd have to give us the pass phrase if it was some kind of emergency. We never once actually used the phrase, because the only way it would have been needed was if something happened to prevent one of our parents from telling us directly that we were supposed to get picked up by so-and-so.

Funny thing...I'm nearly thirty years old, but I'm still not going to tell you the phrase. It is secret. You might kidnap me if you knew it, haha.

 

[Hawkeyegirls]

This is very interesting! I had my daughters name on a few custom shirts for our trip. I wasn't concerned before and I wasn't after either. We never left her side, no way she could get lost as always had her in the stroller or holding hands. I liked having it because the characters and staff always called her by her name that way. However when not on vacation she doesn't wear anything with her name on it as there is no need for it.