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Andy Murphy

The Hidden Danger of First Day of School Signs


Hidden Danger of First Day of School Signs | The Secure Dad

It’s almost back to school time aka, the most wonderful time of the year. Parents are running around trying to get every single item on the supply list, trying to predict what size shoes for kids will need and getting ready for the first day of school.

A popular trend for the first day of school is to snap a photo of your kid before they go off on their first day of their new grade. We make a sign for our kids to hold up with all sorts of information that we may forget over the years.

But there could be a hidden danger for our kids in these first day of school photos.

While these photos will pop up in our memories on social media for years, sharing these photos may have unintended consequences. The signs we make for our kids to hold up in these first day of school pictures can reveal too much information about our children.

In a quick online search I discovered signs that share our children’s:

Name

Age

School

Grade

Teacher’s Name

What they want to be when they grow up

Favorite color, food, toys and hobbies

Pet names

Hidden Danger in First Day of School Sign | The Secure Dad

These types of signs are nice, but they do not need to be shared online.

While we are the normal, decent people of the world, not everyone shares our morals. Predators and human traffickers can use this information to target our kids and groom them for kidnapping.

Using the information on these signs, a bad guy can approach your child with a made up story using real details like your child’s name, school and teacher. Once a predator has your child’s attention and builds false trust, it can be easy to convince your child to leave with them.

Do not post these signs on social media.

Instead, I’ve created a free printable that you can download to use this year to post your pictures on social media. My printable sign doesn’t have information about your child and will be safe to share online. Then you can swap this sign out for a more personalized photo that is not to be shared online. If you use a Secure Dad sign consider, tagging it with #securedad.

First Day of School Sign 2018 | The Secure Dad

Please share this post with a friend so that we can make our kids safer! For more on keeping your family safe, consider The Secure Dad Newsletter.

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Andy Murphy

Andy Murphy founded The Secure Dad in 2016 with the aspiration to help families live safer, happier lives. What started as a personal blog about family safety has turned into an award-winning podcast, an Amazon best-selling book, and online courses. He focuses his efforts in the areas of home security, situational awareness, and online safety.

 

Andy is a husband and father. His interests include coaching youth basketball, hiking, and trying to figure out his 3D printer.

 

TheSecureDad.com

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