Guest of Honor Badges & Kids

[DisneyAunt]

I have been to Disney enough times to know that it is a very safe enviornment for the kids and have never felt uneasy. I still watch the kids like a hawk (DNephews 4 & 6).

I am taking the boys, my SIL and my mother to the world in November for MY birthday . I have quite a few surprises planned to make the trip special since it is my mothers first trip.

I was going to get GOH badges for everyone until I had a terrible thought . I have always been told never have the kids names plastered on their shirts or anywhere visible. This will reduce the risk of abduction. Yes....I know....I may be paranoid but......the thought did cross my mind. It was a scary thought for a moment....but I thought hey....wait a minute we are in WDW and it is pretty safe.

ANyone have any opinions on this. Or am I the only one that has thought about this.

 

[InstImpres]

You are not the only one who thinks about it....but I think most of us just dismiss it after that initial (and lingering thought).

FYI, my DD and DN's all get them when they go with me but I have a secret weapon to ward off lost children/abduction I take a digitial picture each morning as we leave the hotel so that if anything ever happens, I have a current pic with correct clothing handy. At the end of each day I just delete it. Thankfully, have never needed to use it!

Sandy

 

[WANNABE@WDW]

We love the guest of hour badges. The special attention from CM's is wonderful. Even the adults in our family wear them. My dd's are never far from my side. We have a rule, they must stay within arm's reach of me. There are sick, evil people everywhere. If a bad person wants to call children by their names, all they have to do is observe your family for a few minutes. I can't count how many times I say my dd's names in day. I have many discussions with dd's about "bad" people. They know that bad people are everywhere, even at WDW.

 

[DisneyAunt]

Thanks for the reassurance!!! Now the tough part which ones do we order.

 

[tlbwriter]

Read "Protecting the Gift" by Gavin De Becker. It will help you narrow down what you really need to worry about, as well as helping you teach your children how to stay safe (and believe it or not "never talk to strangers" is NOT the way to stay safe!)

 

[4forDis]

DisneyAunt, you are not the only one who has thought of this. I was going to order these badges for my kids but when I told my husband about the badges he was dead set against them! Even though we don't take our eyes off of our kids, "why take a chance" is his feeling. If he hadn't had such a strong reaction to it I would have ordered the badges. I think you have to be extra careful in a crowded place, regardless.

InstImpres, I love the idea of taking a photo each morning. There's never a chance of forgetting what they were wearing because you are too upset to think!

 

[BESUNNYSIDEUP]

I know if someone is up to no good they can find a way to try something bad. We keep our child within arms lenght and give the "Bad people" talk all the time but I wouldn't take the chance of putting his name on him anywhere. I know it probably doesn't make a difference but I am just not willing to take a chance for those up to no good.

 

[Katems]

I am super overprotective and I ordered these badges and intend for my DDs 4 and 9 to wear them. I also intend to never let go of them! Think about it....if someone calls your child's name, YOU are going to hear that person, too! For someone to get close enough to read your child's name badge, you're going to notice that person, or at least you SHOULD notice that person. Your child is short....an adult would have to make an effort to look down and maybe pause in order to accurately read it. I've also read 'Protecting the Gift' and also highly recommend it. Gavin DeBecker's 'The Gift of Fear' is also a must read. Teach your child to scream her head off if someone she doesn't know calls her name and tries to take her hand and walk off with her. Tell her it's OKAY to scream and kick and make a fuss in those cases, she does NOT have to be polite! Tell them to scream 'I'm being kidnapped! This is NOT my parent! This is a stranger! Help me!' Have a code word so that if someone DOES try and lead her away, she knows to ask what the code word is. The code word should be obscure, it should NOT be 'please'. A word like 'stereo' or 'trashcan' or 'closet' or 'eyebrow'. Only people knowing that code word should be safe to your child. If they don't know the code word your child should scream like crazy.

I think the badges sound great for character interaction and extra attention from cast members. I think they are a plus, especially with shy kids who may not speak clearly to a face character. It gives the face character a way to make the child feel special by calling them by their name without the child even having to tell them!

 

[mapmakerj]

We love the guest of hour badges. The special attention from CM's is wonderful. Even the adults in our family wear them. My dd's are never far from my side. We have a rule, they must stay within arm's reach of me. There are sick, evil people everywhere. If a bad person wants to call children by their names, all they have to do is observe your family for a few minutes. I can't count how many times I say my dd's names in day. I have many discussions with dd's about "bad" people. They know that bad people are everywhere, even at WDW.

I agree! We love the GOH badges. My DS was in awe everytime a CM addressed him using his name. I also agree 110% that a "bad" person can scope out your family and get your kids name in a matter of minutes if they want to. You are so right about saying your kid's name all day long (ex: ___look at that, ____ do you want to ride that, ____are you tired, ___are you thirsty/hungry, etc. Just insert your child's name). I try to be very careful when it comes to my DS, I or my DH try to keep a hand on our DS at all times in crowded public places ( he is my one and only), but I think we as parents can over-analyze somethings just a bit. I don't think that wearing a name tag at WDW is a huge security issue and this is from someone who has had to deal with the child abduction issue very close to home. One of my good friends little sister was abducted a few years ago riding her bike by her home. Her body was found 2 months later.

 

[AJKMOM]

Katems:

I know someone whom that strategy backfired on. She was in the local mall with her 9 year-old daughter, and when the brat didn't get something she wanted, guess what happened? Yep, "Help me, please, this isn't my mother, I am being kidnapped" came right out of the daughters mouth.

It was a friend of my s-i-l, so I never found out what they did to punish the kid, who was old enough to know better. However, she did say that they got some weird looks, but no one stopped them.

 

[DisneyAunt]

I'm glad to see that I am not the only overprotective person here. I sometimes see people not even pay attention to there child. I feel comfortable getting the kids these GOH badges I don't let the kids out of my sight. Everyone brought up such great points! I especially like the idea with the picture in the morning

Some people just don't care or really don't want to be bothered watching there child. I was in the mall on Saturday and watched a 3 year old out of controll child run out of the store the mother was in and the mother didn't notice until I returned her child to her. Isn't that crazy....what I thought was even scarier was that I told this child I was going to bring him back to his mommy and he came right along with me. The mother didn't even thank me she just yelled at the kid and went right back to doing what she was doing. Some people just shouldn't have any kids!

 

[Katems]

AJKMOM:

Yes, I realize that can happen, but HOPEFULLY if it was for real, the would be kidnapper would hightail it out of there. Your friend's sister in law would not have left the scene, she would have stood there and tried to reason with her daughter or whatever. A real kidnapper would be stupid to take the chance of pretending to be an annoyed parent because the REAL parent would likely be close by and come running when she heard the screams and realized her own child was missing. It would be interesting to know how loud the nine year old was and how much of a fuss she put up. I've taught my girls to make the biggest, loudest fuss possible and kick and wave their arms around and such. If the nine year old did that and still no one stopped to intervene and make sure she was okay then that is just awful!! But what more can you do?? If you're separated that's really the best thing to do. If the child cooperates out of fear or intimidation, the kidnapper will get them out of the 'safe' crowd of people and into a remote area where all the screaming in the world won't do her any good. The child needs to make an IMMEDIATE HUGE FUSS to attract attention. Even if people just gawk, they will be LOOKING and the kidnapper doesn't want to be looked at! Even if he succeeds, people will be able to identify him later.

Obviously they need to be taught to not PRETEND and cry wolf. It needs to be a serious discussion and role playing should take place. I just roleplayed this morning and both my girls gave weak little screams and did more laughing than true screaming. I looked out my windows to make sure no one was coming up the walk and I then demonstrated what I really meant by SCREAMING and making a big fuss with waving my arms and jumping around. Yes, my throat hurts now!! But they understood what I meant!

 

[Jules74]

Where do you get the GOH badges?

I have been to Disney enough times to know that it is a very safe enviornment for the kids and have never felt uneasy. I still watch the kids like a hawk (DNephews 4 & 6).

I am taking the boys, my SIL and my mother to the world in November for MY birthday . I have quite a few surprises planned to make the trip special since it is my mothers first trip.

I was going to get GOH badges for everyone until I had a terrible thought . I have always been told never have the kids names plastered on their shirts or anywhere visible. This will reduce the risk of abduction. Yes....I know....I may be paranoid but......the thought did cross my mind. It was a scary thought for a moment....but I thought hey....wait a minute we are in WDW and it is pretty safe.

ANyone have any opinions on this. Or am I the only one that has thought about this.

 

[msjpatt]

We had a GOH badge on my 4 year old son when we were entering Epcot and one of the Security Guards checking bags at the entrence advised us to remove it as it would give a kidnapper a heads up knowing the childs name. It had not occurred to us either, but we decided to remove it just in case. He still has it as a keep sake in his room.

 

[DisneyAunt]

Jules 74

I am getting mine from Gifts of Lifetime.

 

[meandtheguys2]

It would take 5 minutes of hanging near us to know our kid's names, and most of their bad habits! I don't see a name tag as giving any sort of a headway for a kidnapper. Aside from the fact that kidnapping has never been an issue at disney. Only 5% of children who are kidnapped are taken by a sranger. I think that puts the odds on our side!