Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t even know I should have anxiety about this and I’m not at all convinced I should.

I've always heard this as a basic safety precaution. Particularly with pre-k/k kids, they're young and not streetwise and taught to respect adults. So if someone comes up to them and says "Olivia you're supposed to come with me" it's not remotely farfetched or paranoid to imagine that they will do exactly that.

Where would they be alone in such a situation? And even if they were left alone for some reason a stranger doesn’t need a name to fool a 5 year old.

I get my kids names on their school backpacks from PBK. I used to not do it for my older one because I’d heard the same things posted here but they really aren’t going anywhere but around the school and into the car where everyone already knows their name and could see it written on their water bottle or pencil case as well.

We didn't do names on the outside. Most of the backpacks that we bought when our kids were little had a cloth nametag on the back top of the largest pocket, so when you unzipped, the first thing you saw was the nametag. We just took a sharpee and hand wrote the child's name on that nametag. Most adults who are trying to figure out whose backpack it is, will unzip the main pouch and without even opening it much, the first thing you see is that nametag. We had a couple of times that the backpack was not where it was expected or some adult found it and that nametag did all that we needed to make sure it got back to us.

Anonymous wrote:I’m ordering preK school supplies and saw some cute personalized backpacks and lunch bag sets Etsy.

What’s the thinking on names embroidered or otherwise on backpacks and lunch bags these days?

No, just do initials if you must.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t even know I should have anxiety about this and I’m not at all convinced I should.

I've always heard this as a basic safety precaution. Particularly with pre-k/k kids, they're young and not streetwise and taught to respect adults. So if someone comes up to them and says "Olivia you're supposed to come with me" it's not remotely farfetched or paranoid to imagine that they will do exactly that.

It’s an urban legend. Watch the uncles and stepfathers and don’t worry about backpacks.

- child sex crimes prosecutor of 20 years

Anonymous wrote:What kind of pre schools and kindergartens are you sending your kids to that teachers just let them go with whomever?

Yikes

When you kid goes to camp
or a school trip and has their backpack with them it can be an issue.

Here is a different question - why are you putting name on it to begin with? Can you accomplish the same thing in a way that does not expose your child to risk?

We do the LLBean backpacks. I got a small one embroidered with my oldest kid’s name in preschool and then got her a new, larger, one embroidered with her name in elementary school. The rest of the kids have gotten the small one with duct tape over my eldest’s name and their own name written on it, and gotten to choose a full size backpack with their own name for kindergarten.

What kind of pre schools and kindergartens are you sending your kids to that teachers just let them go with whomever?

Yikes

We have names on backpacks but the kids just get right in the car so 🤷‍♀️

iniitials on backpack is fine

Anonymous wrote:We used to have a hand-me-down backpack with another kid’s name on it, and we told our daughter it was the absolute best way to test if someone really knew her. If they called her the name on the backpack, run away! It never happened though.

Brilliant! My daughter’s favorite “day” backpack (smaller than a school backpack) has her cousin’s name on it. Never thought to tell her that though.

We used to have a hand-me-down backpack with another kid’s name on it, and we told our daughter it was the absolute best way to test if someone really knew her. If they called her the name on the backpack, run away! It never happened though.

Anonymous wrote:Wow so foolish

Is your kindergartener often unsupervised? Mine isn’t.

Wow so foolish

Anonymous wrote:No, we used bag tags, that way the bags could be handed down and/or donated easily. No one wants little Aiofe's personalized bag, LOL

Same.