Our kids are growing up.
3 Important Tips For Talking to Your Kids About Strangers
2) Treats, pets & more lies: A lot of kids are lured away by the promise of treats like candy, chips (all the stuff we never give them) or even silly simple things like a cute dog or other animal they might be interested in. Even worse, predators will tell all kinds of lies like ‘I’m friends with your mommy’ or ‘Your mommy sent me to get you’ etc. Explain these possibilities to children while putting special emphasis on things they LOVE (so that they won’t fall victim as easily) For example my little loves motorcycles–full on obsessed. When I talk to him I make sure I mention motorcycles because I know that is a weak spot for him.
3) Be Aggressive: Always teach the children how to be assertive when it comes to adults they don’t know. It is critical to teach children to run to an adult they trust if a stranger is making them uncomfortable. Kids spend most of their young lives being told be respective of adults, but if they feel threatened or something doesn’t feel right, they should be comfortable enough to say NO and seek safety and shelter in an adult they know.
There are so many different things to be aware of when it comes to child safety! This is just the beginning in a series of posts I have coming up on safety awareness and children.
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8 comments
YES YES YES
I would go on and on to mine about learning to trust her gut.
Id bring her places and say OK SO IF YOU WERE LOST WHO WOULD YOU ASK FOR HELP HERE?
and then we’d chat about why she’d pick that person over others etc.
We talk about this all the time! The boys definitely know what to do and, if God forbid something like this happened, I just hope they remember! I’m somewhat comforted by the fact that they are rarely alone because one twin is never far away from the other, so safety in numbers should work in their favor. Scary but important topic here today Nellie!
Great advice and yes we have had this conversation and continue to have it with the girls, because so important to teach them even at the youngest of ages about stranger danger.
I have. I tell my son all the time to make sure he doesn’t talk to strangers. he is one that would be lured by pets because he loves them so much I do worry about that often but I drill in him daily about the dangers
We haven’t had a good talk with Des yet, but Scarlet has heard an earful from me! She also went to Safety Village camp, which was all about this kind of thing! Two weeks! Des will go when he’s four.
I don’t think my parents EVER talked to me about talking to strangers – To be honest, I didn’t really know my parents too well until I was about 17! ha! They threw me in boarding school, so I had to talk to a whole bunch of strangers whether I wanted to or not!
I’ve talked to my kids about strangers, but somehow I feel like it’s never enough. Especially when you see those scary videos of people luring kids away with pets and things. It’s so frightening. Definitely think the talk is on order again tomorrow..and the next day…and the next!
These are great tips. Living in BK and NYC where our kids will one day go to school by themselves, it’s important for them to know all the safety rules