Wltx.com recently reported about protecting your child from a stranger. I include an excerpt:
Like clockwork, hundreds of children pour out of schools on weekday afternoons. So, what if a person waiting outside is not a parent, but rather a predator? Would your child know how to react?
“We try to talk about strangers,” said Carolyn Beck, who works at the school her 11-year-old son attends. “We try to tell him they don’t look like the boogey man. They look like anybody’s mom and dad.”
However, Sergeant Jeff Flanders with the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department says parents should do more than talk to their children about dangers. He suggests they role play.
“I’ll reach out and grab him and say, ‘You’re going to come with me,’” explained Flanders, showing Beck’s son how to react to an abductor. “Braden is going to start yelling out, ‘This is not my dad. I don’t know this person. Turn me loose. Someone please help me. Fire. Fire. Fire.’”
I like the idea of yelling fire. The child needs to know to make a scene if a stranger grabs him. Unfortunately, adults teach children to trust adults. Children need to know not to trust all adults, namely strangers.
Of course, most child abductors know the child. Strangers do not commit most of these. Nonetheless, it remains very important for all children to learn not to go with strangers and how to defend themselves when a stranger attempts to abduct them.
What do you think?
