Okay, so I saw on Oprah a while back (yes, I know she could possibly be 1/3 of the unholy trinity, but it was quite a while back) where they set kids up to see if they would leave with strangers. I always thought to myself that I would try that should I ever have children. Well, the opportunity arose today. We went to the park to have dinner (Sonic - it is half price burger Tuesday) and Abby was playing on the playground. I approached an unsuspecting woman to see if she would try to lure my child off of the playground. After she recovered from her surprise and hesitation, she agreed to help me...if I did the same for her little girl. She walks up to Abby, tells her she is a pretty little girl, and asks her some questions. Abby tells the lady her name and says, "yes" she does want to go with this lady. WHAT!!?? Note to self - more stranger danger teaching!! Me and the nice lady (Monica) confront Abby and she starts to cry (Abby, not Monica). Good - it's always good to reinforce a lesson with some tears, right, Dad?
So, then it's my turn with her daughter (who is a little older - 1st grade). I walk up to her, tell her I like her cute jacket, and ask her if she wants some candy I have in my car. (yuck - I feel so dirty!) The girl politely says "no, thank you". I then say, "come one, just come with me over here", and start walking toward the parking lot - away from her mom. She starts coming with me! Her mom was shocked. Needless to say, she got a lecture.
Point being - always talk to your children about strangers! Practice, set them up! You can never be too sure!
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WHAT?! And Abby will barely come talk to me and I'm not even a stranger! Tell her I'm crying right now! LOL!
Btw...I don't want you to think that I thought the whole thing was funny b/c it isn't. Scott and I were just talking about this and I think that no matter how much you discuss strangers with your kids they have and idea in their head what a "stranger" looks like and it isn't a pretty, nice lady or an attractive, well dressed man. It's a scary looking mean man or lady. I think kids don't seem to understand that even strangers who are nice to them can be bad people.
How funny - I didn't think you thought it was funny. Well, it kind of is funny in a way.
That is such an awesome way to get the point across to your kids!! Thanks for the idea :-)
Wow..That is scary. I am so glad that Abby got to learn this is not good.
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