Anonymous wrote:The stick figure thing bothers me. Why do I, a stranger, have to know how many kids you have, if you're single, if your children are male of female and if you have pets??

Why is there this need to advertise this? I don't get it.

You're not the only one: http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/183149.page

Post deserves a bump up...

The stick figure thing bothers me. Why do I, a stranger, have to know how many kids you have, if you're single, if your children are male of female and if you have pets??

Why is there this need to advertise this? I don't get it.

It's unnecessary information for strangers who may or may not be dangerous.

I head about not using school names and other personal information on the car, but I never thought of the GPS thing. Thanks for that.

Anonymous wrote:OP here, I forgot to add...
DH also said to not put your home address as "HOME" button/command in the car's GPS. If your car is stolen the thief can simply direct the GPS to "HOME" and it will not only guide him there but likely have the garage door opener built in thereby giving easy access to your home.

He suggests programming in the closest police or fire station address as "HOME" in your GPS and putting an address a few miles from home under favorites if you want easy access to be directed home when travelling.

FWIW, he's not really neurotic but he doesn't think we should make it any easier for the bad guys either

That's super-smart. Thx.

Anonymous wrote:OP here, I forgot to add...
DH also said to not put your home address as "HOME" button/command in the car's GPS. If your car is stolen the thief can simply direct the GPS to "HOME" and it will not only guide him there but likely have the garage door opener built in thereby giving easy access to your home.

He suggests programming in the closest police or fire station address as "HOME" in your GPS and putting an address a few miles from home under favorites if you want easy access to be directed home when travelling.

FWIW, he's not really neurotic but he doesn't think we should make it any easier for the bad guys either

Excellent advice too! Crap, I'm changing it.

How else will I show off the world how well I've social climbed? GL Mercedes, private school sticker, vacation spot, "Peace" sticker.

My H did not allow the garage door opener to stay in the car.

He compromised with a dead bolted door between garage and house.

Those stick figure family stickers should be a crime against humanity. No one should have to look at them.

Other than that, there is a sense of paranoia here. I get it, your DH sees a lot of bad things.

I always thought the stick figures were kinda silly. Now I think they are more than silly. They are TMI.
The one's with the kid's name, sport and graduation year are waaaay TMI.

OP here, I forgot to add...
DH also said to not put your home address as "HOME" button/command in the car's GPS. If your car is stolen the thief can simply direct the GPS to "HOME" and it will not only guide him there but likely have the garage door opener built in thereby giving easy access to your home.

He suggests programming in the closest police or fire station address as "HOME" in your GPS and putting an address a few miles from home under favorites if you want easy access to be directed home when travelling.

FWIW, he's not really neurotic but he doesn't think we should make it any easier for the bad guys either

I agree with your husband.

After reading the Norwood post - the OP seems a little unstable and I would not want her to be able to find our where my family lives.

I am the wife of a detective as well. You are so right. I wish people realized how dangerous this can be. Of course people will say that is it so rare to be targeted by someone.

I honestly hadn't thought of it that way, but I do now.

S/O on the Norwood sticker post in private school forum (that probably should have been posted in Off Topic as it related to bad driving, not school)

We all see many vehicles with school stickers, stick figure families, sports decals, and even kid’s names. Years ago, before law school, DH was a police officer. He was a detective in the homicide & sex crimes division so he saw some pretty nasty stuff. He, to this day, is dead set against putting identifying information on our vehicles as he thinks it makes it easier for pedos and other weirdos to gather too much information about your family.

I recall when we were watching the series “Dexter” a couple of seasons ago and the bad guy used information from Mom’s minivan stickers to lure a child victim. So, do you all think advertising your family structure, as well as DC’s schools, sports and even names on your car is TMI that can cross into a dangerous level?