Odd Situation At MGM Today

[beth_cam]

My children attend a local Karate school where the 'teacher' is a big proponent of repeated stranger danger instruction. A portion of all preschool classes (each class period) as well as often in the older classes is devoted to stranger danger. He also gives free 'seminars' for groups about it. One of the things he teaches is if your child can recognize an employee to get help from, a stranger can easily look like that employee. At a seminar for scouts, he asked the children (5-8) how they know who is an employee at walmart....the children all answered they were a blue walmart shirt (think smock). Same with Target...they all said they wear red. That is very easy to copy. So would looking like a CM or whatever other store. He teaches the age old STAY PUT. Mom will find you if you stand still. Another thing I heard another mom praising him for teaching her child: A couple of moms went to the local amusement park with a group of children and one got separated. Not only did he stay put but he asked a "mom with children" to get him some help. The idea behind a "mom with children" is they are the most likely to help and the least likely to hurt. He also Talked to us about in our area there hasnt actually been a stranger abduction of a child in I dont know how many years he said but it was quite a while. So while we focus on the stranger danger an awful lot...

 

[sha_lyn]

I wonder how many on here actually read before posting. I never said he wasn't kidnapped from a mall.

 

[snowbunny]

beth cam -- this is exactly what Gavin de Becker says in his book, as well. Children should be instructed to approach a mom with kids if they need help, rather than a police officer. Almost anyone can look like an official person to a young child, especially a male store rent-a-cop.

Isn't karate a wonderful thing for kids? Both of my children are karate students, and the focus in self-defense is on how to recognize a problem and use your voice and body to get away .

Of course mall and park stranger abductions can happen. However, they are rare. That is why most of us know James Bulger's name.

 

[TDC Nala]

We know James Bulger's name because his kidnapper/murderers were ten years old, which is nearly unheard of. But mall/park stranger abductions are still rare.

 

[MouseWorshipin]

I think about this all the time. So many young mothers allow their kids to go to the next aisle in the grocery store, or a few yards away in the department store...and leaving their kids with perfect strangers in stores! I just don't get how people do it.

I think they should show that movie, "Adam" every year or two on television. I saw that movie when I was 13, and made a mental note to never turn my back. It is so hard to do that and not make your kids aware that you're doing it, but I always remembered what could happen if I didn't, thanks to that movie.

 

[Scoobmuzic]

I had a customer sitting at my desk at the bank with his young son who had to use the restroom. As you Mom’s all know when a young child says he has to go it means NOW..
The Dad looks at me and says “can you take him?” Of course I stammer out “Uhhh NO”. I am not going to be responsible for someone else’s child who has to go potty!

 

[sha_lyn]

Now if it had been a DD I could see his POV, but to ask you to take his DS. Then I did know a boy whne DS was younger. They were both about 6, and the little boy had never been in a mens restroom. He went in, and was freaked out by the urinals. Which seems strange since he was in PS. Well anyway the mom said the dad had never taken the boy to the bathroom.

 

[Jacqui]

I'm glad to hear that all came out well in the end. It's also serves to remind me and my husband that when we take my brother and sister (eight and ten) for their first trip to Disney that our moto has to be Constant Attention! We don't have children ourselves, so we aren't used to operating in that mode. Thanks for sharing the story, both the beginning and the conclusion.

A tip I read before, is to take a picutre of the kids every morning, assuming you have a digital camera. This way you will know exactly what they are wearing should you get seperated.

 

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

I read the DeBecker book and agree - do NOT send them to a male. First, playing the averages - males are more likely to be violent than women. Second, there was a study done and women were more likely to stay with the child and accept the responsibility to see it through to a safe ending - males were more likely to just pass the child off to another - passing on the responsibility. Third, I would NEVER send my kid to a rent-a-cop - no offense to all and I recognize they are sometimes retired officers (no problem there)- but I think there is a certain "profile"(if you will) that goes along with many of them.

One example - one of the rent a cop security officers working at my husbands business (and who I thought I relied on when my DH had to go in early hours)murdered a little girl and hid her body for months at this place of business. In all fairness the others seemed to very nice people. I have also read over the years of countless cases of abuse of young women at the hands of these so called mall rent a cops. I would never direct a child to seek one out.