Lifestyle

Actions

Stranger danger: do more than teach self defense, act out scenarios

Helping your kids fend off the bad guys
stranger danger.JPG
Posted at 9:18 AM, Jan 28, 2020
and last updated 2020-01-28 09:18:19-05

ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children says that strangers are most likely to abduct a child when they’re going to or from school. That’s just one piece of advice parents should know. You can’t always be with your child.

Every time an Amber Alert goes off, another child has gone missing. It’s terrifying as a parent, but there are steps you can take to prepare your kid for the worst. First, talk to them about what stranger danger means: it can be another minor, an elderly person, someone in uniform, or someone asking to help find a lost pet. If someone does try to take them …

“Scream, bring attention to yourself as loud as you can, run away, always run away, you’re not big enough to fight yet, but you can draw attention with your voice,” Rachel Hughes, 6th degree Black Belt and retired sheriff deputy lieutenant, told Ivanhoe.

Act out scenarios so they know what to do.

“We put them in and shut the trunk, we teach them about the pull lever, if there’s not a pull lever you can see, start kicking the taillight, if you hear the car stop make noise,” Hughes said.

A self-defense class can teach them the moves …

But repetition will keep them prepared.

Predators may try to reach kids online and convince them to meet, so it’s important to have early conversations about internet safety. Teach kids to never give out their phone number, location, school name, or personal photos, even to another child.