The answers to all of the above: FALSE.  Want to know more about how to keep your kids safe?  Read on.

A PARENT'S WORST FEAR

An AMBER alert announcing that a child has gone missing breaks into your drive-time radio.  Your heart races, palms grow sweaty.  You stop, can't help but think: "Are my kids okay?  Are they safe?  What can I do to protect them?"

We used to teach our kids to avoid "stranger danger".  Experience has now shown that this method is not only ineffective but can actually place children in greater danger. 

For example, recently when an eleven-year-old boy was lost in the woods, searchers came within sight several times.  Yet the boy hid from them, because he was taught "not to talk to strangers".   He remained alone in the wilderness for four days before he was eventually rescued. 

The message of "stranger danger" can be confusing to children and may lead them away from people in a position to help them.  So what should we be teaching our kids?  How can we protect our families?
 
More than warn your children about dangers, you can help make them Street Smart Kids.

KNOW THE FACTS:

First, let's look at the scope of the problem.  According to the US Department of Justice, approximately 800,000 children are reported missing each year.  Of these, less than 2% were actually abducted by non-family members.

That translates to about 1 child out of every 10,000 who is a victim of non-family abduction.  Good odds, but not good enough.  We can do more to protect our kids and make them street smart.

According to the Office of Juvenile Justice, the majority (61%) of victims of non-family abduction were taken by persons known to the child.  These included: friends, neighbors, caretakers, authority figures, and slight acquaintances(such as Internet buddies).  Now , in the modern day of Internet chat, games, and social networking, the acquaintances of children are much further reaching. Also, women perpetrated only about 30% of all non-family abductions.

If most children who are abducted know their abductors in some way, then where do most abductions take place? 

Contrary to the popular belief, it is not in dark alleys far from home.  Studies of child homicides have shown that 80% of the time initial contact between victim and abductor occurred less than a quarter mile from the victim's home.  That's only about two city blocks.  Homes, yards, streets, parks and public areas were the most common places where a child was abducted. Most abductions occurred between noon and 6pm.

Already we can see that a lot of our stereotypes about child abductions are misrepresentations of the truth.  Rather than teaching a child to be afraid of a stranger in a dark alley far from home late at night, we need to be teaching them the skills they need to quickly identify dangerous situations (in person & on the Internet) and take appropriate action.

Next time: STREET SMARTS START AT HOME