Children And Strangers

[JamieC]

I would like to share with you an incident that took place this morning. A stranger approached one my sons' classmates at a school bus stop. He tried to engage her in conversation and when she tried to leave, he stepped in her way.The child cooly responded to this action by kicking the stranger in the knee several times then ran to approaching friend. The stranger left the scene. The School bus arrived shortly after this incident and the bus driver contacted the police. The Principal of the school contacted all (us) parents.

They have been investigating the situation and believe that a transient may have been responsible for the incident. However, I would like to take this time to remind parents PLEASE!!! to review with your children steps they can take when approached by a stranger.

1. Be Aware of your surroundings - leave yourself room to run
2. Don't engege in conversation with strangers
3. Keep a safe distance from strangers
4. If a stranger advances on you, run away to the closest house or
adult.
5. Do not panic, keep a cool head.
6. Scream and yell (Fire) because a lot of people ignore you and think it's only
a family problem.

Please take the time to talk to your child about strategies to deal with a stranger. It worked well today and will benefit your child in the future. The school is also reviewing strategies with our children to insure that they are safely aware.

[sumayyah]

Good points to remember. My son is so young, I worry about him going anywhere with anybody, even if I know the people. However, my son knows when he doesn't know you, or simply doesn't like you. He looks at unknown people really strangely, and if they come near him, he screams. Maybe when he learns to talk I'll enroll him in Tai Kwon Do........

[elmb]

My son just started taking the train to school alone this year and I don't play. By a certain time, I'm watching that clock like a hawk b/c after a certain amount of time has gone by, I'm putting the black stuff sideways on my face, and going out there after my baby. I don't care that he's 11, that's my baby. This is a good topic.

[Babydoll]

I'm so glad I can take my baby to school and pick her up.

I told her I'll be driving her to school until she can drive herself.

Scary.

[msqueen]

I can only imagine the worry parents have with all the stuff going on in the world today. I am fraid of what it will be like when I do have children. Are people going to get crazier?

I agree with teaching your children the basic safety measures for leaving the house alone. You have to remind them they can be targets just like adults.

I hope that girl that was approached is okay. I wonder if her parents still allow her to go to the bus stop or did they make some type of arrangement to take her to school? I know it would frighten me as a parent.

Maybe they should hire bodyguards to stand on bus stops up to a certain age....Well, maybe not because the bodyguard may flip and try to do something. Geez! Who can you trust?

[sunnyyy]

Originally Posted by Babydoll

I'm so glad I can take my baby to school and pick her up.

I told her I'll be driving her to school until she can drive herself.

Scary.

^^^...That is excatly what I plan to do once my babies start school.....It's so scary out there and it makes me depress just to think about it :frown: Thanks Sunday for the post and tips :)

[JamieC]

No problem Sunnyyy!.. that's what it's all about.. lookin' out for our kids. :)

[000HONEY]

Very helpful post...Thankx JamieC