Etan Patz one of 1st Missing Kids on Milk Carton

How Etan Patz Changed My Generation

By whitney levon | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Mon, Apr 23, 2012

COMMENTARY |
The most recent search for the whereabouts of Etan Patz, the boy who went missing in New York City in 1979, has ended with no results. His fate is still a mystery. Patz's disappearance 33 years ago shattered the illusion children were safe in their neighborhoods, and kids who grew up the 1980s, like me, were witnesses to the first nationwide efforts to protect children from Etan's fate.

Faces on Milk Cartons

It was a warning that our moms gave us before we went outside to play; we were told to be careful so our faces wouldn't end up on milk cartons, like that of Etan, who was one of the first children whose face appeared on the carton. According to Slate, 700 of the nation's independent dairies posted pictures of children who were missing. The practice was eventually stopped because people believed the practice scared other children.

New School Programs

In school, children were taught about stranger danger and child-snatching, things that really hadn't been addressed before. We were shown filmstrips that showed how strangers don't always look mean or dangerous. We heard the stories of Etan Patz and Adam Walsh, cautionary tales of how bad things can happen to good kids. My local police department even visited the school to fingerprint all of the students, just in case one of us was snatched. McGruff the Crime Dog was at many of our school events, and passed out comic books showing us how we could stay away from "Stranger Danger" and "take a bite out of crime."

Parents Changed Their Ways

Of course, not all of the efforts came from the schools or the government. Our parents changed the way they raised us too. There were passwords to use if a stranger came to pick you up from school. The days of wandering the neighborhood aimlessly were gone, parents had to know exactly where you were at all times. At the time, these changes seemed like too much. Today, they are standard for most parents.

The story of Etan Patz stuck with me as a child, and now that I am a parent, it haunts me even more. The one good thing that can be said of the situation is that the disappearance of that sweet boy saved the lives of countless others as a result of the changes that the schools and our parents made.