Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Your decal families


This is a PSA of sorts.

An old co worker of mine talked about it on his wife’s blog over a year ago and I remember nodding my head the whole time in agreement with everything he said.
Now a days, you can’t drive down the road, park at a store or go to a school without seeing those family decal stickers on the back window of a car.


via technabob

When you see them, what’s your first thought? Is it, ‘oh, look they have the cutest little stickers for their 2, 3, 4 kids??’ Or do you think about the dangers that come with having the amount and general age of their kids on their car, for all to see?

The vast majority of you know I used to work in prisons. In that time I had a rather close encounter…too close of encounters with hundreds and hundreds of child molesters. I read their files, I knew what they did, I knew how and what they did to those kids and the ways the kids were lured in.

Its sick.

To this day, among all my prison paperwork, I have tucked away an ongoing note that spanned over a couple days between 2 child molesters that I happened to confiscate when I saw one attempt to pass it to the other. I didn’t know what it was at first when I asked him to hand it over, but I took it, told him to go away, and began reading it. I was shocked. Not to mention disgusted.

It was a conversation about little boys in a magazine they were looking through…and their age preference of them… and then how one, who was coming up on parole, planned to elude the cops, change his name, move out of the state and find himself another little boy..or two or three.

Are you uncomfortable yet??

Now, look again at those decals. Notice the ones that go so far as to give each and every name of their family down to their baby. How much easier do you need to make it for that child molester to come for your kid?

What do all parents say to their kids? Don’t talk to strangers!! But what happens when that stranger comes up to your kid and says, ‘Hey Tommy, your mommy Cheryl told me to come pick you and Jenna up because she had to take your little sister Heather to the doctor.’

And how does he know where you live? Easy! He followed you home, thanks to your decals being so easy to spot. They are elaborate thinkers! They will do anything to get your kids. I can’t stress that enough!!

Stop making it so easy for them by putting your family on your car!! and please for the love of God
DON’T SHARE YOUR NAMES!!
If you have a friend or family member who has these, please tell them the dangers of this. If you have them, please understand the danger this presents for you and your family. We don’t need to live in a state of fear, and I’m by no means wanting to make you be in one, but I want you to be aware. Aware of what’s around you. Not to be naïve to the fact nothing could ever happen. And not to be so forthcoming with your personal information for all to see.

Its called “personal” for a reason.

this concludes my public service announcement

9 Pin It Now!

18 comments:

Annie M Culley said...

Thanks Emily! I have seen theses everywhere....very popular here in Utah! I never thought of the potential dangers behind them though. If I find a friend or family member I will totally refer them to your blog! Thanks for the informative post!

LeAnna said...

I totally agree! Besides, bumper stickers are banned from our vehicles anyway. Hub's preference. What's up with the numbers at the bottom of some of your posts?!

Lisa said...

I totally agree with you. In fact I had the same thought when I was sitting in traffic on Monday morning behind a car with the stickers.

We are all responsible for our actions and making are kids a target for those disgusting beings known as child molesters is not one of them in fact it is the exact opposite.

This could turn into a rant and rave comment so before it does.....happy birthday week gorgeous!!!

debjones:) said...

Those our pretty popular here too.. That and personlized license plates! My mom actually has one and it drives me crazy every time I see it because she actually has her first name on it.
So thankful for your sake that you no longer work in that environment. :)

Tatiana said...

Yes, yes, and YES! This is always the very first thing that pops into my head when I see those things. I'm surprised that in this day and age people don't think about this stuff more. There are all kinds of freaks and creeps out there.

The Hopewell House said...

I definitely agree-- I think the best policy is keeping this private. Not everyone needs to know who's riding in your van or how many people you have in your family.

Anonymous said...

Scaaaaaaaaaaaaary ugh. Agreed. So much freakiness. I've never liked those little window decals from the first time I saw them. This post pushed me closer to considering making my blog private. I think I might just do it.

Chantel said...

Woah that's freaky! I never thought about that before, so thankful I don't have those on my van, though I know many around here do. Thanks for the eye opener!

sandi said...

also add personalized back packs to the list! with the start of school in a few weeks (boo!) supplies are on my to do list, but it will never include a name on a back pack. someone could easily follow a child down the side walk and know their name.

i see those stickers everywhere, along with the "my child is an honor student at_______", or anything else that advertises where you spend your time. although i would love to brag on my children (they are pretty awesome) i have a stickerless car for this reason. the info on our blog has started to bother me a bit but i like keeping a record for grandparents about our "goings on".

carissa said...

yes! i've always thought that and have wondered why people want to know who is driving anyways. you are a genius and making the world a better place. : )

My-cliffnotes said...

I hate those stickers, I want one that says, "there's nothing in here to take loser, but if you do please total the car so I can get a new one, thanks thieving asshole"

LaLa said...

OK, Some how I missed this post this week. This makes me sick to my stomach. I've had family that were molested. So growing up I was raised to be aware. I always try not to yell my niece and nephews names in public for this reason. I'm going to share this. Thanks for sharing!

Lauren

Popcorn, Pugs & Peonies said...

Wow,thank you so much for posting this. I had never thought about this before, but wow. You make a very good point. I will be spreading the word about this.

*Erin

Megan said...

SO SO true!!!! Every time I see these I can't believe that people just put their names out there!! SCARY!!

Lindsay said...

I 100% agree with this. I know people always think it's a cute thing to do but come on - you can never be too careful these days!!

I remember growing up people used to say not to have your name on your backpack, now parents are willingly giving people their children's information! Kids will believe anything you say, especially if you know their name and talk to them like you're a friend.

We live in a scary, scary world.

Jossie said...

Agree 100%. I see them all over the place and I have heard the dangers before....never will I have them. I once had my name and phone number on my car for lia sophia purposes and took it off shortly after because of that very same reason. Too scary.

Teh Megan said...

Besides how creepy these sticker sets can be.. can we talk about how amusing it is to see one of the parents peeled off? (assuming no one died of course!)

Becky | Apples of Gold said...

I totally agree! Those stickers annoy me for that same reason. Sometimes I think I'm overreacting about stuff, but thanks for making me feel normal! =)
This also brings to mind the issue of sharing family photos on your blog and so on.
I cringe at the thought of any creep-O looking at photos of my girl... but as long as peeps don't know where I live, and as long as I educate my daughter well enough, and trust in God to protect her when I can't ... There's only so much a mommy can do. The rest we have to leave in God's hands.
I enjoyed this post!
(And it would've made the perfect post for tomorrow's "rant" challenge!> =)

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...