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Stranger Danger
Teaching Your Children the Dangers of Strangers
By Carma Haley
Parents have the ability to empower their children against abduction by educating them about the dangers of strangers and helping their children to help themselves.
There were more than 950,000 missing persons reported in 1998, according to the Agency for Missing and Exploited Children. Of those, the FBI estimates that 85 to 90 percent were children.
Most parents will admit that their greatest fear is their children being abducted. To help prevent this nightmare from becoming a reality, parents can educate their children. Parents already take many precautions to protect their families and their children: installing and maintaining smoke and carbon monoxide detectors; composing and practicing fire escape plans; immunizing their children; requiring that children wear safety belts when in a car and that they wear helmets and pads while riding bicycles, skateboards or in-line skates; and checking Halloween candy before allowing their children to eat it.
However, according to the Agency for Missing and Exploited Children, only 58 percent of parents take part in educating their children about the danger of strangers.
Diana Jones, president and founder of the New York-based Run Yell Tell program, says parents need to accept the responsibility to educate children on what could happen in the event that they are approached by a stranger.
"It is the parent's responsibility to go to whatever length is necessary to avoid placing their child in vulnerable positions," says Jones, who created the Run Yell Tell program to teach children how to avoid becoming the victim of crime, abduction or abuse.
Want to see more?
- Expert Q&A: What kind of things can parents do to keep children safe in urban areas?
- Expert Q&A: How can I talk to my children about safety without scaring them?
- Your Child's Strongest Ally: You
- Sexual Abuse: How to Prevent It
- How to Talk to Your Kids About Anything
- Run Yell Tell Ltd.
- Run Yell Tell: Safe Choices, Safe Children book excerpt
