Children cannot look after themselves so we, the parents, have to.
The key to effectively teaching your children about safety is for you, the parent, to be educated. Your children look up to you as role models, the more you know, the safer your children will be.
We warn our children ‘don`t talk to strangers’, but still many children are abducted or exploited. The reason for this is partly down to the fact that ‘predators are not always strangers’, they can be a relative, a neighbour, a doctor, a dentist, a scout leader, even a policeman and so on………..
How do you define a ‘stranger’? Children think that they should stay away from someone who looks weird or in fancy dress. In reality children should be taught to stay away from certain situations rather that certain kinds of individuals.
Children can be raised to be polite and friendly, but to be assertive. Children also have the right to say ‘no’. If someone asks them to do something they do not feel comfortable with, they can say ‘no’.
Children can be taught from an early age to protect themselves and if this is taught correctly in a matter-of-fact way, so they do not become scared.
Child abduction is a scary thing, it is hard to teach an innocent child about things so terrible, but it is much better to teach them to be safe than be a victim.
It is a parent`s obligation to teach a child to be safe and to arm them with the neccessary information.
