Do you personalize items with your kids names?

[danda22]

We will be taking our first trip to WDW in June. I'd like to get T-Shirts made for our first day to wear. I'm on eBay looking now and i see quite a few to choose from with names being added. Some have first names others have last names or captions like "Johnson family vacation 2013". Just curious if for safety reasons if you add personalized touches to your shirts, etc. My kids will be 10 & 11 during our trip. Thanks so much for your opinion. Maybe I'm being paranoid. I never let my kids get personalized backpacks for safety reasons but they are old enough now I think. I keep second guessing myself on this.....

 

[cefcdana]

I'm listening in too! But my kids are younger-- 6, 7, and 8

 

[DznyPrnces]

I don't but my kids are only 4 and 8 months. I may re-evaluate when they are older.

 

[Skylarr29]

I've always heard it was a bad idea to have items personalized with your child's name until I came across a thread here talking about it and some people had a very valid point. All someone has to do is listen to you for about 2 minutes and chances are, they will know your child's name anyways. I haven't had anything personalized but am now not as opposed as I was once was. Think about how many times you'll be calling out .....

 

[Malakaiii]

I have NO problem with it. Who is going to use this information to cause your child harm? Most children who are kidnapped are kidnapped by family members (ie: non-custodial parents). VERY rarely children are physically taken (ie: shoved in a van and stolen), but that person doesn't need to know their name to take them. Plenty of other ploys work well ("I've lost my puppy, will you help me find him?")

Is some theoretical person just trolling the beach, waiting to spot a personalized towel so they can steal a child? Sounds pretty far-fetched to me. It's not hard for someone to figure out your child's name!

Teach young children - Don't go off with anyone. Show them who to ask if they need help (Someone with a nametag at a store, a police officer, a parent with children)

 

[oopinkisfunoo]

I don't do a lot of personalized items, but some things I do. (We have personalized towels, keychains)

I did make them shirts that read "Im going to Disney World!" and it has their names on it. These are to wear on the airplane.

 

[danda22]

I have NO problem with it. Who is going to use this information to cause your child harm? Most children who are kidnapped are kidnapped by family members (ie: non-custodial parents). VERY rarely children are physically taken (ie: shoved in a van and stolen), but that person doesn't need to know their name to take them. Plenty of other ploys work well ("I've lost my puppy, will you help me find him?")

Is some theoretical person just trolling the beach, waiting to spot a personalized towel so they can steal a child? Sounds pretty far-fetched to me. It's not hard for someone to figure out your child's name!

Teach young children - Don't go off with anyone. Show them who to ask if they need help (Someone with a nametag at a store, a police officer, a parent with children)

No, I don't imagine anyone would stroll the beach looking for a personalized towel. However, with a young child wearing a shirt or backpack or whatever it may be then a stranger could say "hey Nick your mom said to come get you for her..." etc..... It isn't the times when my child is at my side that I would worry about.... it's that moment when I turn my back for a minute to tend to another child or something else that I would worry about. Like I said, my kids are 10 and 11 so I don't think it is as much of an issue as it would be if they were 4.

No matter how many times a kid hears don't go off with a stranger they could more easily be swayed by someone calling out their name. "Hey Nick do you remember me? I work with your mom and she told me to pick you up". Kids may remember you teaching them stranger danger but they also are told to listen and respect adults and they don't want to get into trouble. I certainly see both sides! We live in a small town and have our last names on many school sports shirts, etc. I do it now that they are older (and we know practically everyone in town lol) but I still wouldn't have done it when they were younger. thanks for the input to all that responded.

 

[danda22]

I've always heard it was a bad idea to have items personalized with your child's name until I came across a thread here talking about it and some people had a very valid point. All someone has to do is listen to you for about 2 minutes and chances are, they will know your child's name anyways. I haven't had anything personalized but am now not as opposed as I was once was. Think about how many times you'll be calling out .....

yes I agree!! I'm the same way. I was opposed more so before and starting to feel a little more ok with it. still wouldn't do it if they were 3 or 4 but I feel ok with 10 and 11.

 

[kalc12345]

I do personalize shirts for our Disney trips. If the kids have their names on their shirts everyone at WDW calls them by their name. Makes them feel a little special

 

[poohfriend77]

I do personalize shirts for our Disney trips. If the kids have their names on their shirts everyone at WDW calls them by their name. Makes them feel a little special

I made personalized shirts when my kids were younger (5 and almost 3 on our first trip), and several characters wrote personal messages in their autograph books. The 5-year-old apparently forgot what she was wearing, because she kept saying, "How did Annie know my name? She must be MAGIC!" It was so cute, but really, I was impressed that a full-costume character could clearly read their shirts and took the time to notice. Almost all of the face characters and many CMs called them by name too.

I *maybe* would hesitate to put a young kid's name on a backpack if they walked to/from school, but I drive mine. It's a private school with no bus service to our neighborhood, and it's 5 miles from our house. I really can't think of a situation where I thought my kids could have been in danger because a stranger could read their shirt or backpack. I'm not a helicopter mom, just always there out of necessity.

OP-- I think your kids are PLENTY old enough (actually, they may be bordering "too old" to go along with matching, personalized stuff ) so I say go for it!

 

[danda22]

I made personalized shirts when my kids were younger (5 and almost 3 on our first trip), and several characters wrote personal messages in their autograph books. The 5-year-old apparently forgot what she was wearing, because she kept saying, "How did Annie know my name? She must be MAGIC!" It was so cute, but really, I was impressed that a full-costume character could clearly read their shirts and took the time to notice. Almost all of the face characters and many CMs called them by name too.



I *maybe* would hesitate to put a young kid's name on a backpack if they walked to/from school, but I drive mine. It's a private school with no bus service to our neighborhood, and it's 5 miles from our house. I really can't think of a situation where I thought my kids could have been in danger because a stranger could read their shirt or backpack. I'm not a helicopter mom, just always there out of necessity.

OP-- I think your kids are PLENTY old enough (actually, they may be bordering "too old" to go along with matching, personalized stuff ) so I say go for it!

too old??!!! what's that??? as if they will be given a choice!! LOL. Poor DH is completely unaware that he too will have a matching shirt that first day! It's our first time and we will have some nice matching pics darn it! Yep, I'm going to order. They will all be given their clothes to wear the night before. ooooh I'm sooooo excited!!

 

[PinkLemonade7503]

I do it, and don't worry about it. I might limit where they wear it, but for the most part I am comfortable with it.

My daughter has a long first name, so she has a little nickname that people call her, and what she knows herself as. So, I usually get her "real" whole name on things, and so I guess in that way we bypass some of the issues others mentioned. You could also just get a monogram, or a letter for their first name, a nickname, or even a family nickname like "ladybug" or "sweet pea", etc.

 

[PinkLemonade7503]

BTW, Would you mind sharing some of the shirts you are looking at?

 

[cheer25mom]

I have never seen a problem with doing this. It is common sense to teach your kid that just because someone knows their name, that doesn't mean they actually know you or that you should talk to/go with them. We have a family code word and my kid knows that any unfamiliar adult who is sent to her in an emergency will use the code word first, NOT her name. Once they are out of the toddler stage, they should be old enough to process and remember this.

 

[dragonfly08]

My girls have worn shirts with their first names on them at Disney. My thoughts were that 1) I was with them the entire time, and 2) all anyone would have to do to learn their names would be to follow us for five minutes or less anyway! They were old enough to know that if we did get separated for any reason, they should look for a CM (and we discussed how to recognize one) and that they should never go with a random stranger even if that person knew their name.

 

[luvmy2babies]

I do for Disney and did for Sea World. We would either have our first names or dd will have "Big Sister" and ds would have "Little Brother" and I’d have "Mom". I haven’t for backpacks or anything like that. It’s fun for them to hear the characters and CMs call them by name. Then there was the time dd met Vydia. She looked at dd’s shirt, pointed at me and asked her why the grown up in her life had tagged her like that. Knowing Vydia’s character both dd and I laughed.