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Who are Strangers?
Strangers are considered anyone the family does not know very well. Often times, children think all strangers look scary. The problem is, pretty-strangers also can be dangerous. Educating children on who is safe and who is not is very important. Children need to understand that they should be careful around all strangers. There is such thing as safe strangers though. Firefighters and policemen are considered safe strangers. Although children may not personally know them, their job is to protect the community. Other adults children can seek help from are teachers.
How Can You Help?
The most important and vital act
parents can do is educate their children on dangerous situations. Some warning
signs to teach your children are
- A stranger asking them to keep a secret
- A stranger asking children to disobey their parents
- A stranger asking for help
- A stranger making a child feel uncomfortable in any way
Children need to have a plan on handling difficult situations. A great thing to teach children is “No, Go, Yell, Tell.” If a child finds themselves in a difficult situation they should say no, run away, yell as loud as they can, and tell a trusted adult right away. Role playing is a great way to practice what a child will do in a difficult situation. It’s also important to teach children to trust their instinct. If they ever have any uncertainty and feel scared, it is okay to leave the situation and go talk to a trusted adult. Children may find it tough to tell an adult “no” but it is okay to do when they are in a dangerous situation. Some other things parents can do to help prevent dangerous situations for their children are making rules about asking permission before going anywhere so parents know where their children are. They can also encourage their children to play in groups.
This video is a great clip to show your children to educate them on stranger danger.
Strangers & Social Media
Not only do children encounter strangers in real life, but they may also come across them on social media. Parents need to make sure they are up to date on what their children are doing. Some social networks to not provide a privacy setting and therefore anyone can see what they are posting. It is important that children be careful about sharing too many personal details and pictures (Bell, 2014). Parents should be communicating with their child and asking them questions about the social media they are using and talking to them about stranger danger in the media. More than half a million pedophiles are on the cyber world trying to “friend” children (Decesare, 2017). On a few social media sites, people don’t even have to be friends with each other in order to find out where someone lives, where they attend school, and their interests. Again, the most important thing parents can do is to talk with their children and be actively involved in what social networking sites they are using, as well as what they are putting on them. Parents need to understand that they need to keep communication lines open with their children so they feel comfortable enough to talk with their parents about what is going on and it also encourages regular conversation (Decesare, 2017).
This video shows first hand how easy it is for predators to get a hold of children.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbsuYaBClT8
This video shows first hand how easy it is for predators to get a hold of children.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbsuYaBClT8
Children can be easily convinced to do things. As parents, it is our duty to educate them and help them learn the consequences of situations. The best thing we can do is to practice with them what to do when a sticky situation rolls around and to also monitor what they are doing on social networking sites.
References
What to Teach Kids About
Strangers. (n.d.). Retrieved October 09, 2017, from http://www.ncpc.org/topics/violent-crime-and-personal-safety/strangers
Bell, E. (2014, November
28). Bigger than stranger danger: Social media and teens. Retrieved October 09,
2017, from http://inside.akronchildrens.org/2014/03/11/bigger-than-stranger-danger-social-media-and-teens/
Decesare, H. (n.d.).
Stranger Danger Online. Retrieved October 09, 2017, from
http://www.parentguidenews.com/Articles/StrangerDangerOnline