I went on a pinning rampage this weekend on my quest to 2,000 pins (I am currently stuck at 1,996 and needed a break). Not quite the way I wanted to spend one of the last weekends of the summer, but we are all sick (AGAIN, I swear we wash our hands!!!!) and so, quarantined we are. However, I got some good stuff on there, let me tell you guys….go take a look when you have some time. Or, if you’re already a follower of me on Pinterest, you saw this barrage of recent activity. You’re welcome?

Anyhow, typically I like to keep it light and fun all up in my blog, but I found something last night that I think EVERY. SINGLE. PARENT. EVER! Should read. Moms, dads, grandparents…and talk about it with your kids! Now, at 2 or 3 years old or even 7 or 8. This is important.

Excuse me while I get up on here

We all tell our kids “Don’t talk to strangers” but what happens if they (God forbid) get lost….at the zoo or something. They will need to talk to someone to help “get found”, right? And that person would be a stranger. So how do we explain to them the difference  between a “good” stranger and a “bad” stranger? And can they understand that at age 3 even?

Last night I stumbled upon a pin, that took me to a blog, Checklist Mommy and the first paragraph had me hooked:

Right? Wouldn’t you be more than willing to help out some child that was lost? She also goes on to say that it is unlikely for your child to be abused by some weirdo at a park that he doesn’t know. But that weirdo is going to introduce himself and be friendly and now, that weirdo is no longer a stranger.

Instead, we need to start teaching our kids about “Tricky People.” Grown ups who ask for help (because what grown up needs help from a child? Unless it is mommy or daddy, because who doesn’t need an extra “helper” around?)

She goes into greater detail about Tricky People and what we can teach our children about them. Who to look out for, because most Tricky People, the ones that are going to hurt our kids, the Sandusky’s of the world….they are people we know.

Now, if you already haven’t done this, go up to the link for Checklist Mommy and click on it. Or, click on the paragraph from the blog, up above. That is going to open the article in a different window. Don’t read it now, but go back and read it when you’re done with my blog. And really…READ IT!

That site linked to another site called Safely Ever After which is an incredible resource on Childhood Safety. What I found most beneficial was the Prevention Tips, here are the top 4,  for example (there are actually 15)

“If you click on me, I will take you to the rest of my Tips…”^

And lastly, the rules. I love rules. I don’t always love following them, but I do try. Mostly because I don’t like getting in trouble, although, my mom would probably disagree with you….

anyhow, this site also offers The Super Ten Play-It-Safe Rules! which are just that. Rules to teach your kids to help them know how to protect themselves from the sicko’s out there.

Click on the rules above to read the rest of them

So there ya have it folks. Just thought this might be a good topic to bring up now that the school year is starting (or about to start for you Midwesterners)…or really, just whenever. These are things, as terrible as they may be, that are unfortunately a part of our society. As parents, we need to be vigilant defenders of our children’s youth and one of the ways we can do that is by arming our kids with the knowledge they need to be defenders of their youth too.