March 17, 2006
Stranger Danger
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Megan has become a flirt with men. A week or so ago when I took her to get her hair cut she spent the 20 minutes we were waiting for our turn talking to and entertaining a guy who was there to fix the tv. He was in my opinion slimy, though probably in reality harmless. It was the first time I realized Megan loves to talk to everyone (a bit like her mom there) and that she had yet to be taught to be wary of people she doesn't know. Today she singled out the scruffiest looking dad at the pump it up drop in playtime and befriended him and played with him. He was nice and he and I started chatting once I realized she wasn't leaving him alone, but it kind of bothered me. Both incidences are harmless, and yet both show that she has no sense of stranger danger, and both scared the *&%^$^ out of me. Its time to get the ball. I found out from a mom friend that one of the local police departments has a program for toddlers. She's going to try and get it organize for our group. Any one else have any advice on the subject? |
It is scary how easily our kids trust people. Right now Brody thinks that everyone he sees needs to hug him & pick him up. He tried to hug the pizza man last week and then a couple that came to the house for an ad we had about selling one of our TV's - he hugged him and got him to pick him up before Fred or I could react. He seemed a little slimy to me as well. Zoe, right now is a little more cautious. She waits to see how we are with new people before she warms up to them, but she has started copying Brody with the hugs. They both followed around one of the move surveyors around the house with their arms wide open! I'm open to any suggestions too.
Posted by: Heather at March 20, 2006 09:45 AMIt's so scary! Kids are so vulnerable and trusting and you don't want to scare them (or scar them) so it's tough to present.
Does Megan's preschool have a program? My kids' school had one for the older kids (Pre-K) and they sent home literature and exactly what they were going to say and how they were going to say it. We could opt out if we wanted to. I let Manda take the class. John Walsh has a program you can buy too.
On our own, we've had a few conversations about it when she has asked. We try to just make sure that she knows that some people are mean to kids and you can't always tell who they are by looking at them. We read Hansel and Gretel and then apply it to real-life situations. As an example, I check the fbi's national site for registered sex offenders. There is one about a mile from our house. And his conviction is solicitation of a minor. Of course, I don't know if it was an 8 year old or a 17 year old . . . but I'm glad I know he's there. He was working in his yard, planting pretty flowers, a couple days ago when we drove home from school and I told the kids to never never never go to that man's house because he was a bad man. And it started a conversation. Manda had lots of questions. I reassured her that she was safe, but that some people just can be really mean to kids - hurt them. (She decided that some people have sick hearts) I told her that just like the witch built her house out of candy to get the kids to come inside, sometimes mean people will say nice things and offer nice things, but they aren't really nice. And she already knows that she needs to stay where I can see her when we're in public because some people steal kids (because they don't have their own, Mommy?) and we would be soooo sad if we couldn't see her again. (You would cry for a hundred years?)
Manda was definitely more interested in the conversation than Alex (he's 2 1/2).
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