Child Safety -- Avoiding Abduction

Distressing incidences of pedophilia are often reported widely in the news. This can be extremely worrying for us as parents, as we try to do our utmost to keep our kids safe. It is not enough, however, to tell our children not to talk to strangers. They see us talking to strangers all the time. Moreover, we teach them to be polite to their elders, and people they don’t know.

There are a number of ways in which parents can increase child safety and teach our kids to be alert to danger. From the start, you should work at building your child's self-esteem and confidence and developing their social skills. You can do this by telling them you love them and giving lots of praise.

You must encourage their independence with lots of opportunities to try things for themselves and teach your child how to be assertive - that means having their own needs met but still respecting those of others.

Armed with this, you have to reinforce the idea that it is OK for them to say “no,”, forcefully if necessary, to a grown-up that wants them to go with them, or do something that scares them or does not feel right. You can assist their instincts by teaching them about parts of the body, and what is acceptable and what is not.

At the same time, we should not become paranoid about child safety, and neither should they. They will hear things on the news which they will want explained. If they are a young child, it might be enough to say that a bad man took a child away, but that will never happen to them because you will protect them, and because they know all about stranger danger.