Teach Your Children Well – over and over

Stranger Danger

Last September, I blogged about teaching your children about gun safety, even if you don’t have one at home.  They may encounter one at a friend’s house or even discarded in a park playground by a criminal.

Yesterday on the news, I was reminded about teaching your children about “stranger danger” and how to avoid and defend themselves if necessary.

In Georgia, a mother was shopping with her little girl.  The girl strayed off, and security cameras caught a man trying to abduct her.  Fortunately, this 7 year old girl had the presence of mind to kick and scream.  The man dropped her and ran off.  Awesome job by the little girl.  Video (courtesy of AP News) after the jump… 

Situational Awareness!

I’ve also written about situational awareness on a number of occasions.  Be aware of your surroundings.  Be aware of the people around you.  What are they doing?  How are they acting?  Is that little voice in your head talking to you?  It’s not paranoia.  It’s basic instinct honed by millions of years of evolution.  And, it continues to serve us well.  Pay attention to it!

While I do understand how kids can scamper off out of sight in an instant, arguably this mother’s situational awareness was at least distracted.  I do my best to NEVER let my kids out of sight in public places.  Just as the kids can duck out of sight in an instant, bad guys like this can grab them in an instant.  And, that’s exactly how the host of TV’s America’s Most Wanted, John Walsh’s son (Adam) was taken from a Sears store and murdered.

It can happen anywhere.

There are some SICK bastards out there.  I wanted to use a different pejorative than “bastards,” but I’ll try to keep this PG-13.  If you want an eye-opening experience, go to http://www.familywatchdog.us/ and type in your address to see the number and locations of registered offenders in your neighborhood.

Videos they can live by…

There is an excellent video teaching tool for your children (or grandchildren).  My kids watched it many times.  It’s really well produced and very appropriate for young children.  I highly, highly recommend it.  Here’s a preview of this life-saving video:

Click the link below to buy it on Amazon.com:

Refuse to be a victim

I’ve long advocated for adults refusing to be victims of crime.  Likewise, we should teach our children to refuse to be victims.  The video referenced above does an outstanding job of that.  And, as parents, we should reinforce those lessons on a regular basis.  Even your kids can be “little dental warriors.”

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3 Responses to Teach Your Children Well – over and over

  1. Thanks Mike. This topic came up a couple of nights ago. Preparedness is key. Knowing what to do regarding strangers can be a hard subject to discuss with kids. I wonder if they “get it”. They naturally trust people and can be conned and abducted. I’ll be ordering the dvd’s. Thanks again, AL

    • The Dental Warrior says:

      Hi Alvaro,

      Perhaps oddly, I don’t find it a hard subject to discuss at all. I’ve drilled and quizzed my kids on it repeatedly with role-playing scenarios.

      “If a guy drives up the street and asks you to help find his puppy….”

      “If someone offers you candy…”

      “If someone wants to show you his video game…”

      And so on. It’s not hard at all. We are very matter-of-fact about it. When it comes to personal safety (and the threats that DO exist out there), sugar-coating it is a BIG mistake, IMO.

      If I can teach a 6 year old about gun safety… and an 8 year old how to actually shoot… I can teach them to NEVER let a stranger approach them.

      I showed the walmart video to my kids to reinforce the lessons, and if grabbed, fight back! LOUDLY!

  2. Pingback: Teach… your children well… about safety. | The Dental Warrior

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