# Questions about the "Tot Finder" decals

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-the-tot-finder-decals/135931>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 8, 2002, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-the-tot-finder-decals/135931 "2002-11-08T20:42:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2002, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-the-tot-finder-decals/135931/1 "2002-11-08T20:42:56Z")

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[sub]Sorry if this has been answered - “tot” is too small to search and “finder” floods me with Apple OS threads ;)[/sub]

Background for the uninitiated: Families used to put these shiny oval [Tot Finder](http://www.babyproofingplus.com/item634.htm) stickers on their kid’s windows, so that firemen would (I guess) go into that room first to save the children. Won’t somebody think of the children?!! 🙂

Anyway, I was wondering if this still happens? I used to see them all over growing up in the Midwest, in fact I’m pretty sure there was one in my window, but out here in San Francisco I don’t recall ever seeing one. Was this a regional thing?

A related question - did this **ever** work? That is, is there a known instance where a fireman rescued a child from a burning building thanks to these stickers?

And how about liability? What if a family forgot to remove that sticker and their kid went off to college, then the firemen targeted that room and someone else in the house died b/c they charged into the empty converted guest bedroom? Or, (I shudder to think), wouldn’t a pedophile up to no good simply go cruising for these stickers? How about a situation in which the firemen ignored the sticker and tragedy ensued?