WATCH: Six-year-old girl fights off alleged abductor!
We cannot be with our kids all the time, but we can prepare them to be proactive...
Life with kids is amazing, but when you think about the cruel parts of the world we live in, it can be daunting knowing you can't always be there to protect your children.
If anything, it can cause you to feel anxious and uneasy. But when we live our lives consumed by fear, then what are we actually teaching our children?
It's definitely not the route to take.
And after hearing that kidnappings are on the rise in Gauteng, it's certainly not easy keeping calm and level headed.
But we have learnt that with everything in life, you have to sometimes take a step back and handle the situation with a sense of calm.
This not only helps our kids learn to be calm in stressful circumstances, but it also could be the deciding factor between a tragedy and a rescue. For instance, we recently saw video footage of an attempted abduction of a six-year-old in Ohio, USA.
Not only did it leave us with chills, but it reminded us that at no point can we firmly say that our children are completely safe.
WATCH the interview and the footage below, courtesy of Instagram.
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Thinking about it is one thing, but when you see something like this, a near save, that could've so easily gone the other way, it can be so traumatising.
Luckily this young girl knew to scream and that is potentially what saved her. Now more than ever, we have to stand together as parents and educate our children about scenarios such as these.
Because it literally takes a second for someone with ill intentions to act and your child is off the radar.
Here are some valuable tips to get you started with teaching your kid about keeping safe.
- Make sure that your child knows their full names, their address, parents' full names and contact details. Use a fun way of getting them to remember like a song or rhyme.
- Engage in role-play scenarios. This will help them remember how to behave if something were to happen. Make them aware of some common things that strangers use to lure kids, like cute animals, sweets or candy, money, asking for help.
- Teaching them about 'safer strangers' is important too. So for instance when they feel unsafe they could approach a fireman, a teacher, a police officer.
- Educate them about their anatomy and what parts of their body no one should touch.
"Make sure your children understand that they should never keep secrets concerning their body, and if anyone ever pressures them to, that it’s a sign that they should tell parents about it right away.
"Dangers to your child aren’t just posed by strangers. In fact, 90% of childhood sexual abuse, and 93% of child abductions are committed by people who are familiar to the child, and usually trusted by the parents. It’s important that your child knows how to identify problems in the moment." (CBI Security)
- If you are visiting a busy or crowded place, then make sure to inform your child of the safety places, and also your meeting area.
- Keep a packet of important information, gather ID cards, DNA and fingerprints. It may sound creepy and over the top, but this could essentially be the help in a missing child case.
Image Courtesy of Pexels