The idea came about after she and her husband saw a lost little girl at a football game with 84,000 people. They asked the girl for any information to help them locate her family, but all she knew was her mom's name was "mommy."

Luckily, the two were reunited about a half-hour later.

Lu says they also create personalized medical tottoos, with the medical alert symbol and condition, for example: allergic to wheat and peanuts, plus a phone number. This way, "if a child is in an emergency situation," says Lu, "not only would people know how to help, they'd also know how to contact the parent."

"Unfortunately, there's nothing that can stop a very determined person from snatching a child, but, what we're hoping is that they'll see that this child has an identification mark on them, that is fairly difficult to remove (without the wipes)," Lu says, "we're hoping that it would work sorta like a car alarm, where somebody would say you know what, it's just too much risk, it's just not worth the effort."

Tottoos can last anywhere from one to two days or longer. You can order them online at www.tottoos.org, in groups of 15 or 30, along with removable wipes to take them off, which are gentle for children's skin.

 

On the Web: Tottoos www.tottoos.org