The importance of child stranger danger by Billie

Ok so most of you have read my post about me being a paranoid mom. Well, let me tell you what happened to me yesterday on my way home from picking my son up from school.

I get home from picking Landon up from school and check his backpack.  He forgot his homework binder at school. So like a responsible mom, I decide that we will head our behinds right back to school and get that binder. He thinks he’s being cute and by not bringing it home on the first night of homework maybe he could get away with it. But oh no, Mommy isn’t playing that game!  Opp’s getting off the subject.

So we are on our way back to his school and I see this little girl (if I had to guess I would say 5 maybe 6) walking all by herself down our main street in our community. Now I see little kids walking to and from school on a daily basis but usually they have someone else around their same age with them. You know the buddy system. But I always think to myself what the hell are these parents thinking letting their little kids walk home by themselves.  Yesterday was no different. But this little one was all by herself, no one with her. We continue to the school and on the way home I see the same little girl walking back toward the school. Now mind you I live in the valley of the sun and we had an extreme heat warning this day, and when they say extreme out here it’s freaking HOT! The day’s high here was 115 degrees.

I see the little girl walking back toward the school and it looked as if she had been crying.  I had passed her and thought I should go back and see if she is ok. I thought about it for a second and in the back of my mind I thought, "If I pull over and start talking to this little girl walking is someone going to think I am trying to prey on this little child?” But my mommy instincts told me to just go make sure she was ok. So I did and this little girl was beat red and crying hysterically. I asked her if she was ok and she said that she missed her mom and dad and couldn’t remember how to get home. The poor thing didn’t have any water. I hesitated to ask her if she wanted me to take her back to school or to her house. But I did. I asked her one time and she got in the car with me. She did not hesitate.

This scared me to the point that I was sick. These are the kind of kids that people prey on. She was so scared, lost, and hot; probably so exhausted that she would have taken a ride from anyone. Maybe it was a good thing Landon left his binder at school, if not who knows what would have happened to that little girl. We don’t live in a bad neighborhood at all, but that doesn’t mean anything. There are predators out there searching for kids.

Come to find out this little girl is the same exact age as my son and in the same grade as him. My question is who lets there 2^nd grader walk home all by them self, without knowing how to get home? And why the hell didn’t they teach their child about stranger danger?

When I got her to the school the receptionist called the girls dad and you will not believe what the dad told her. “She has to walk home; her mother and I are both working.” Seriously jackass she just told you that a stranger picked your kid up because she was lost and couldn’t find her way home and you still want her to walk home? Some people amaze me. I couldn’t be angrier at this girl’s dad. Why even have kids if you could care less about them. I understand people have to work however there is after school care and other options other than risking your child getting lost and or kidnapped.
Parents who are always aware of the schedules of their children are helping to keep them safe. It’s a wise idea for children to call their parents once they reach a destination, like a friend’s house. If parents stay in contact with their children they can better monitor where they are and what they are doing. Parents who teach their children about strangers and staying safe are giving their kids the tools to deal with uncertain, potentially dangerous situations.

Here are some tips to keep your kids safe from strangers:

1. Kids must never accept candy or other gifts from strangers.
2. Do not get into a stranger’s car or go anywhere with him or her.
3. Kids should find a police officer or go into a store to ask for help from the manager if a stranger is following them.
4. Never answer a stranger’s questions even if they seem nice.
5. Kids should never go up to a stranger’s car.
6. Kids should never tell a person on the telephone that they are home alone.
7. Kids should never answer the door for someone they do not know.

Here is the website I found these tips on; there is more information if you are interested in learning more.

http://www.usalarmcompanies.com/stranger-danger/