by Daisy Luther
We all like to believe we have taught our children well never to go off with a stranger. We’ve talked to our kids about safety and warned them about the bad guys, but how well have these lessons really sunk in? Could your offspring be the victim of a child abduction?
In 2016, almost half a million children in the United States were reported as missing. 465,676 little ones just disappeared one day. (source) Some were runaways, some were taken by non-custodial parents, and others were victims of a child abduction by strangers. No matter what the case, I can only imagine the horror felt by the parents who realized that their beloved child was gone.
My daughter brought this video to my attention recently. It was filmed about a year ago and is an alarming social experiment that shows precisely how easy it is for children to be tricked or lured away.
Like you, I’d like to believe that my young children would have resisted the allure of a friendly guy with a puppy, but after watching this video…it’s all so chillingly easy, isn’t it?
This book has some great tips for keeping your children safer.
What do you think?
Would your kids be street-smart enough to avoid being tricked like this? Would you have been watching closely enough every second of the day to prevent it from happening? How did you street-proof your kids to help prevent them from becoming the victims of a child abduction?
Great article. I wish all parents would watch this video. Child trafficking and pedophilia are major problems in our world.
When I was a young adult, my mother boasted laughingly to me of her neat trick for getting free babysitting when I was a toddler. She would abandon me in a store, coolly assuming that store employees would find me and babysit me until her return. Incredibly, nothing bad ever happened to me. Each time she abandoned me, concerned shoppers would bring me to the store employees who would indeed babysit me for hours while broadcasting “lost child” announcements on the PA system. No one ever summoned the police. So now, every time I see a missing toddler story on TV, I wonder if it’s another woman using my mother’s neat trick for free babysitting.
http://www.freerangekids.com/would-your-kid-go-off-with-a-stranger-and-his-puppy/
takes apart the video. Do we want our children to be independent, or lock them inside where they can be safe playing video games? What is the actual chance in your neighborhood? Lets close all the parks! The only good parent is a helicopter parent. Participation trophies so their feelings won’t be hurt. And we then wonder why they need “safe spaces” in college.
… the U.S. Dept. of Justice puts the number of children abducted by strangers at 115 a year.
And I doubt they use puppies. How about just grabbing the kid as he’s walking on the sidewalk? Or outside the school saying “your mother had an accident and I need to take you home now”. Any authority figure will do.
115. How many children get sick or die from vaccine reactions? There is no march on California or other states to repeal their draconian mandatory vaccination laws.