Now that I am a suburban mom, I spend a lot more time in the car than I used to. And I have had plenty of time to notice, over-analyze and think up snarky comments about people's bumper stickers and other car exterior decor. (In fact, I have written this entry in my head many times but now that I'm sitting down to compose it, it's gone straight out the window).
Full disclosure: I have an oval magnet displaying the two letters of my favorite vacation spot on my rear door, and just last month went to three different stores to try to find reindeer antlers and a red nose with which to decorate my car, so I'm not opposed to any sort of personalization. I am just really amazed at how much personal information people put out there on their cars for the world to see.
For example, I have seen my fill of those family car stickers that show little figures of the parents, the kids, pets, hobbies, etc. These stickers can tell me how many kids you have, their rough ages, what kinds of things they like to do...and if you have a school or activity bumper sticker on there as well, I could theoretically figure out when and where to find them. ("My kid is an honor student at XYZ Elementary School," "ABC Town Cheerleading Champions" etc.). Once in a while, I see that people's first names are also posted.
Though I generally try to be a free range mom, and I am in practice not overly mad about security (I plop my kids at the local YMCA children's center, which is not exactly Fort Knox), I also don't think it is necessary to advertise to the world your comings and goings. (This is why I never check in anywhere on Facebook). My husband, the Grump, thinks that I am ridiculous and that you could easily check inside our car to see that we have three carseats and why is that any different, which is true, but he also didn't see the episode of Dexter in which the Trinity serial killer tricks his child victim into coming with him using the information gleaned from a car.
Do you have these stickers? What do you think?
Another downside to all that personalization is that it can provide clues to passwords and/or password hints!
ReplyDeletei do not have those stickers and I think they are silly. I think all bumper stickers are silly. why are you advertising personal information on your car!? Makes no sense to me.
ReplyDeleteI saw an old man driving a car the other day with those family stickers, and it was him, his wife and 5 cats. Why would you advertise to the world that you are a cat hoarder? HA! It did make me laugh though.
Agreed, posting family stickers on the bumper of your car is quite silly. It may be harmful and make no sense to the family images put on the car to be visible for others that have no concern. If you need to decorate your car you should use custom made car stickers that give a nice look and feel to your car.
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