Stranger Danger...Revisited

The idea of warning kids about 'stranger danger' has become out of favor in recent years, so I may be quoting a bit of old school thought here, but nonetheless I feel it's good to teach the kids that strangers can be dangerous. Fact is many kids are taken by people that they know and there is concern that kids aren't very good at recognizing strangers anyway.

There was a story for example about two years ago about a lost boy scout avoiding searchers because he was worried that they were strangers, which just illustrates another potential stranger danger problem.

According to Vincent Iannelli, M.D. in Pediatrics - a well thought out safety plan in situations when you might get separated from your kids seems a smart way to go. One plan would making sure your kids have some kind of ID (my kids found the current ID bracelets annoying though) with information on how to contact you (we rehearsed our address, phone number and knowing your parents names) having a current picture of your child, a designated meeting place if you become separated, and a discussion of safe places that your child might go if he becomes lost in a crowd (we discussed WHO to go to if lost in a store for instance - ie. a uniformed security guard or someone who works at the store.)

It's somewhat hard to go over ALL this with small kids as they just don't quite get that the world can be a dangerous place, in my experience. So we are adapting our plan as the kids grow older.

Nonetheless - here's a revisit to recognizing strangers with Desi (our 4 1/2 yr. old) as he's quite a friendly kid:

Mom: What do you do if you are outside and someone you don't know says Hey little boy do you want some candy?
Desi: You say please.
Mom: No, this is someone you don't know, so you say NO, I DON'T KNOW YOU and you run back in the house, ok?
Desi: Ok.

So we rehearse this several times. Next we move on to strangers knocking at the door.

Knock Knock.
Mom: What do you say when someone knocks at the door and you don't know who it is?
Desi: I open it up to say hello.
Mom: No, you say WHO IS IT? If it's someone you know, you can answer the door. If it's someone you don't know - you go get Mommy and Daddy.
Desi: OK.

Knock Knock.
Desi: WHO IS IT?
Mom: It's Fedex with a package.
Desi: Is it for me?
Mom: Desi, no, you're supposed to say - just a minute, let me get my Mom & Dad.
Desi: OK

We rehearse this several times as well complete with knock on the door.
We rehearse what you do if there's an emergency - to call 911. He's got this down pretty good. 911 is to get the police, fireman or ambulance. He knows his address, his phone number and his whole name to tell the 911 person on the phone.

Then Desi revisits the man with the candy outside.
Desi: Do you think he would feel bad if I don't take the candy? (and Desi LOVES candy).
Mom: Oh dear.

So we go over it again.
Such a cute conversation - but problematic with raising friendly, thoughtful kids.

Here's a link to keeping your kids safe.

I also really liked this

Quiz

for your kids to see if they can recognize what is a stranger.

- LT