This is an interesting experience of a friend of mine that she shared with me from her blog. I thought it was pertinent enough to include on our blog:

“So about a week ago, I had a dream that really really freaked me out.  I couldn’t get it out of my head.  Turns out, it was pretty darned accurate.

In my dream, my 4 year old daughter was ignoring instructions to walk with me, and not run off… and she kept getting further and further in the crowded public place.  I warned her, and she ignored again.  So I sternly called her by her full name and warned her to get back to me.  She obeyed, as she usually does when I use her full name.

But a stranger had heard me use her name.  And they happened to be a child abductor with some skills.  They used HER name to look up on geneological record websites that store all public birth information.  Through that, they saw MY name, and my husband’s name.  Finding our names made it easy for them to locate us through other public records- even though we’re not listed in the phonebooks.

And because they found public records with my name, they basically found out where I lived, without really having to “follow me” and risk being seen in the area prior to a crime they were about to commit.  (Kidnapping my daughter.)

**This is where I woke up.  Totally freaked out as I always am since the instance of Elizabeth Smart 5 or 6 years ago.  I lived in the Salt Lake area that same time, and have always been afraid of something so violating and painful happening to my family too.

But I got on the internet to see how true this dream really could have been- and it took me only 5 minutes to find myself based on the details of my dream.

So the moral of my blog?  Don’t use your child’s full name in public EVER when you are disciplining them or calling out to them.  You are practically shouting your address and telephone number, no matter how private you think you live, and you don’t even know it.

So am I just a little clairvoyant?  Or criminally minded?  You be the judge.  Just don’t use your chlid’s full name in public.  Ever. Ever. Ever. ”

Kinda scary, eh? Something to think about when in public with your kids…it applies to your child AND you.

Julia Howard
www.amberalertgps.com