Name labels are useful from the time children start daycare or early childhood education, which for many families in New Zealand is around two or three years old. This is often when belongings first leave the house regularly and encounter environments where many children have similar items.
At daycare, children may have spare clothes, comfort items, and bags that need identifying, and staff rely on labels to ensure everything goes home with the right family. Using labels for daycare helps establish good habits and reduces the likelihood of items being permanently lost. Even very young children can begin to recognise their own name label, which supports early literacy development.