So, a few years ago, my best friend, whose son was going through treatment for cancer, desperately needed a vacation. I offered to babysit while my students were on spring break and flew out to Texas to care for three children under the age of 4 (my husband asked me later what I learned during that week. My answer? To not have three children in rapid succession because you can hold one’s hand, you can put the other on your hip, but if you are alone and you are corralling three kids, what in the world do you do with the 3rd kid? You let him run free and trust that he is old enough to listen to exactly what you say. But if you don’t know to say “Don’t drop trou in the front yard and pee,” well, then there could be some surprises. Don’t look at me like that. This is what you get with a free nanny service.). When I would load up the kids in the mini-van for excursions to here or there, I was struck by the fact that it seemed like every single mini-van, Suburban, and Tahoe in Texas had these stickers on the back side that represented each family member with a stick-figure sticker (including the cats and dogs). I didn’t love them, but to each his own. However, the thing that really threw me over the edge was that many of them of these stickers had the kids’ name under their stick figure. So a stick figure of a little boy standing next to his mom might say Jack and a little girl might say Lily and under Mom’s it says Sarah. Am I the only person who has a terribly over active imagination and who thinks, “If you advertise your kids’ name, you are just asking for the scary kidnapper to go up to them at the bus stop and say, ‘Jack and Lily, your mom, Sarah, just got hurt and asked me to take you to the hospital to see her. You dad, John, is going to meet us there. And don’t worry, I let Pepper out in the backyard before picking you up.” Now, it seems the stickers have made their way East– I am seeing them all the time here. If you have them on your car, you have to go peel the names off your car window now– if for no other reason than to give my very active imagination peace of mind. Thanks!
ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!!! I think the exact same thing all the time. I used to mention my children by name on my blog when I first started out, until I came across a SUPER SCARY blog, by either a real serial killer or a wannabe thriller writer. After reading that crap, and scaring myself to death, I decided NEVER to mention my children by name again. I only refer to them as “my daughter and son.” SO NO, I would never put one of those stickers on my SUV. By the way, you are a saint for volunteering to take on your BF’s THREE children. Amazing!