Thank you for the tip. DH just got a new cell Fri. so I will have to see if it takes pics. Gosh - my heart sank at the thought of having to use it that way but you can never be too prepared.

That's such a great tip, though a sad one to be necessary.

This is a great tip. We just got back from a weeklong vacation in Myrtle Beach at a very family friendly hotel. On our 1st day there I noticed that many people at the pools were not wearing the hotel issued bracelets. My 5 year old kept running out of our sight at the waterpark to go on the slides. I was so worried of someone just being able to walk off with her or any other child for that matter. There was security, but you never know. Sure enough on the 3rd day, a little girl went missing. I assume they found her, but what a great idea to have had her photo so the security people would know who they were looking for.
You really can never be too prepared.

I read this too, and I honestly had the reverse thought. What a horrible way to raise your child to live in fear of being abducted that each day you would take a picture of your child before they left the house in case they didn't come home? I think you'd have a pretty paranoid kid if not a totally paranoid parent.

I agree if you're at Disney World or off on vacation in strange place - it would be a good idea. But the letter in Dear Abby was suggesting every day do this before your child leaves to go somewhere.

I mean truly - there are millions and millions of children in this world, and the number of abductions by strangers is pretty small.

I think you'd be better off teaching your child to never talk to go off to help a stranger find their dog etc. Also, a child should know their name, address and/or phone number. I think they should also be taught who are "safe" strangers - like a shop owner, or sales clerk, or someone who works at the amusement park if they get separated from you.

Giving your child the tools to help keep themselves safe when you're not right there would be a much better use of your time than scaring the crap out of them that they may not return home that night so you're taking a picture of them to give to the police.

OK, I reread the Dear Abby letter, and it does say during a family outing or park trip - not every day, which was how I had read it initially.

But I still think it's a bit paranoid. When my kids were little, the first thing we'd do when we went to the fair or some other busy public place was pick an easy spot that everyone could remember and that was where you were to go if you got separated from the family.

I guess that letter just rubbed me the wrong way because it seems like our children are being inundated with all the horrors of what could possibly happen to them and I think it just puts undue stress on the kid.

There were child abductions when I was a kid too, but the majority are by someone the family knows and not be a crazy at the park.

A sad commentary on our modern state of mind that this would be considered necessary...

Regarding "someone safe" -- I always heard (and told mine) to go to a Mom with young children if they were lost or in trouble, since it's not unusual for 'the bad guys' to impersonate a security guard or someone in uniform. Besides, there's almost always a Mom with young children around when you need one.

I tend to agree with Caroleoh -- it's all too easy to adopt a paranoid state of mind and be in near-panic mode most of the time. Certainly precautions are wise, but living in fear (and raising children to do so) is no way to live, IMO.

Now, having said that, I will say that I've often wondered what parents are thinking when they have a personalized decal on the back of their vehicle that lets everyone know what sport their child is involved in (soccer, for instance - giving the team name and kid's jersey number), and the kid's name. You've seen these, right? "Colton, #23, Tigers" -- that kind of info. Or a decal depicting a cheerleader's megaphone with "Katie" printed in bold letters beneath it. That seems to be putting a bit more out there than is really necessary or perhaps, even advisable.

I really don't like the show, but found myself inadvertently tuned in to Jon & Kate Plus 8 while I exercised this evening. It was an older episode where Jon & Kate were packing up the kids for a trip to Park City, Utah and they were putting strips of black tape over each kid's backpack where the child's name was embroidered. Because, you know, they didn't want some stranger calling out the kid's name and possibly abducting them. Puhlease. This, from people who have basically pimped out their children for the nation to see in syndication. Sickening.

Its a good idea, but I would not approach it as "I am taking your picture in case you get lost." There are plenty of other reasons to snap a good picture and I think most kids are used to the random snapshot compared to when we were growing up. In the US most children are abducted by a parent, and random kidnapping is, I understand, at a lower point than in the past. Its just that the news trumpets these things.

We once took one of my DD's friends with us to the State fair. I took polaroids of all the kids, including the other girl. JUST IN CASE. I knew that I couldn't remember details of the other girl. And sure enough, the girls got seperated from us and the photos came in handy when we were looking for them. Everything turned out fine (they were at the midway games and not at the ride we thought they were on), but I was glad we had the pics.

I see it has already been brought up and was thinking the same thing -- maybe just take the picture with a cell phone in such a way that they're not you're doing it. All these anxieties can transfer over to children, training them to live in fear. Not so good.

Not to get into how did we ever survive as children the way were raised thread - which might be sortof fun actually - but it seems that we have gotten so caught up in all the crazies in the world we don't take a deep breath and realize it's a very tiny percentage of the population that is deviant and that same percentage was deviant 30 years ago, we just didn't have instant media telling us all about it.

I am all about being protective of my children and their safety, and taking a picture is an easy way, but to be honest, the quality of a cell phone picture and trying to show it to a police officer so he can really see their faces and angling the phone so the light doesn't glare out the picture - it just seems a little silly. To be really effective, you'd have to be able to download that photo to a PC so they can really see the clothes and faces.

We camp at the same amusement park year after year over Memorial Day weekend with a large group of family & friends. DS1 has been allowed to bring a friend for the last 5 yrs. One year, we lost his friend for about 8 minutes. It was a very scary 8 minutes.

We called back to my SIL at the campsite to check to see if he had wandered back there then split up looking for him. DH & DS1 went one way. DS2 & I went the other way. I found a security officer and described him by his full name(first, middle, last), height, weight, hair & eye color(tow-head blond, blue,) & clothing(green swim trunks, white t-shirt that read "Crack of the Bat Camp" on the front and "Eat at Moe's" on the back.) All this information I let out in a super frantic rush of words.

About the same time, DH found a security officer. He said, "We lost our son's friend his name is K_ (just the first name) and hold on while I find a picture of him on my camera." If DH hadn't been taking pics all day long, he would've had no idea how to describe the kid.

DS1's friend ended up walking back to the campsite and SIL called to let us know. I called the kid's mom and said, "in the interest of full disclosure I lost your kid for 8 minutes." She replied, "It's alright. I lost child 3 there for half an hour once."

I think snapping a quick pic of your kids before heading on an outing is a great idea and not paranoid at all.

I totally agree with the outings. Better safe than sorry. That can be done in a way where they either wouldn't be aware of the purpose or, while explaining, it would make good sense to them (vs. daily shots by mom before leaving the house... haha)