How to Teach Kids About Strangers

It’s hard to find a balance between telling your children too little, leaving them unprotected, or telling them too much and scaring them to death. There is a safe place in between the two where you will feel comfortable and your kids will be informed. You must make children aware of their personal safety, hold their attention and not frighten them all at the same time. Teaching safety depends a lot on repetition and making things second nature to your children.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Every child should know her complete name and address, including the city, state and phone number with the area code. If a child is taken to another town or state, a street name and number will do little good. Teach children how to dial 911 and what to tell the operator. If they know their personal information, the operator will start asking questions.
2. Teach kids about safe people. Tell them to look for the security guards or cashiers in the malls and stores, the police officers in the park, and other official people they will come in contact with. Make a game of it. When out, show them these safe people and let kids speak to them. Tell the safe person what you are doing so they can interact with your child.
3. Show children exactly how to get help when they are lost. Tell them to find a safe person and stay put. They should not wait alone or near any entrances or exits. They should never go outside and look for you. Instead of frightening them, focus on positive reasons for obeying your rules. Tell them they’ll be too hard to find at the door where so many people go in and out and that the parking lot is too full of cars for them to see you. Teach them that safe people are trained to help lost children. You want them to go to a person who knows just what to do.
4. Walk around your neighborhood with your children and let them know which houses are safe for them to go to. If you can go to those houses and talk to your neighbors with your children, your child will feel comfortable going there later.
   
5. Tell children to never enter anyone’s car without a parent’s permission. The same rule applies to taking food or drinks from others—even people you know. Limit the number of safe people in your child's life. If there are too many exceptions, kids are liable not to take the rule seriously. Keep in mind that if your child is molested or taken, it is almost always someone the child knows and trusts. Don't make the mistake of teaching children to trust nearly everyone.
6. Teach children to never go off with anyone without telling you or the adult in charge of them. It only takes a few seconds to grab a child once they're out of the sight. Children have been lured away by strangers asking for help finding lost puppies or kittens.
7. Give your kids a code word and tell them not to go with anyone who doesn’t know the code word. Change the code word often because kids repeat things they don’t mean to—think of how often we adults do that. Make sure your child knows the word when he goes to school each day.
8. Teach children that if someone makes them feel uncomfortable, they must run away screaming, "He’s kidnapping me!" or "Call the police!" Teach them to run toward people and run toward the back of a car (driving in reverse is harder) and to keep screaming the whole time. This may scare them, but it's important to teach them this. You can practice it in the driveway--get your friends and neighbors to work with you--and make sure the child has this down pat.
9. Teach children what to do if they are locked in a trunk. You can present this as if the child accidently fell asleep there to lessen the fear factor, but you still need to teach them this. Show the child where the taillight is and how they can kick it out (you can take it out when teaching this). Show them how to wave wildly through the opening so somebody will see them and open the trunk. People have been rescued from kidnappers by doing this as the car drove away.
10. Using games and constant reinforcement will make these rules second nature to your little ones. The more they know and understand, the safer they'll be and the better you'll feel.