Publications
As a parent, nothing is more important to me than the safety and protection of my two girls. And, yes, I have a “Baby on Board” sticker attached to the back window of my car and so does my wife.
But the latest trend when it comes to baby signage is the “stick family”. You build it up according to how many people (and animals) are in your family. So it’s not a generic sticker, but a depiction of who lives in your house.
The stick family sign on a car
I’m no criminal, but I always try to put myself in their shoes, so I can ultimately try to outwit them. While you might be a proud mom or dad, the problem is by putting these stickers on your car you are immediately advertising to the hijacker the exact makeup of your family unit? You are giving them instant information to assess how vulnerable you are as a target, even down to the dogs they have to overpower if they enter your property.
A lot of people even have personalised “baby on board signs” with the child’s name on the sticker. Now I know you’re a proud parent, but to the hijacker or kidnapper you are instantly giving them the name of your child . . . and if he mentions your child by name, he's half way there to gaining their trust.
An example of the personalised baby signs which worry Mark
If you have one of these personalised signs on your car, probably nothing will ever happen . . . but even if there is a remote possibility that you are giving a perpetrator a heads up, is it worth taking the chance?
Just a thought.
- Mark Pilgrim
* Mark Pilgrim is a freelance radio and TV presenter and is a DJ on 94.7 Highveld Stereo and 94.5 Kfm.
Follow Mark on twitter: @MarkPilgrimZA
Visit www.markpilgrim.co.za
