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Along Life’s Way
Parenting
and Protecting
By Lois E. Wilson
After the kidnapping and killing of the Charles Lindbergh baby in 1932,
parents became more alert to the dangers their children faced. If
someone could enter a famous person’s home and take an innocent child,
they knew all children were vulnerable.
I grew up in the 30’s and 40’s. My parents warned me about bad
situations that might occur, so I was prepared when a couple of them
did. My friend and I would often go to a neighborhood theater near out
fruit market. One day a strange man sat down next to us and offered us
some candy. We declined his offer and got up and moved. Fortunately, he
did not follow us.
My scariest moment happened when I was around 13 years of age. My
mother and I walked around our corner and down toward the bus stop.
Mother had forgotten something she needed for our shopping trip to
Dayton and sent me back home to get it while she visited with her
friend who lived across from the bus stop.
As I was walking north, a car with three teenage boys pulled up by me.
It was travelling south. They asked me if I needed a ride. I told them
“No” and continued walking as I kept my eye on their car. The car
backed up keeping even with me; they kept urging me to get in the car.
I turned the corner; my house was three houses away. They followed. I
warned them, “I live here!” as I walked backwards up our driveway
watching the car which turned into it.
I was praying that my father would answer the back door promptly as I
did not have a house key. He did. I quickly explained what was
happening. He closed the door and went out our front door to confront
the situation. He loudly asked, “What do you want?” Two of them who
were out of the car responded with some lame excuse that they were lost
and looking for a place they named. My father who never cursed
exclaimed, “Well you’re a hell of a way from it!” He reported their
license plate number to the police. They were from a small town near
Dayton.
The challenge for today’s parents is that the danger often lies in the
devices their children use every day. Chris Hansen of “Dateline’s To
Catch a Predator” in the spring of 2006 set up a sting operation in
Greenville to lure internet sex predators to what they thought was a
meeting with a young girl. The men who were caught drove here from
Indianapolis, Columbus, and Dayton. Our first lady, Melania Trump, is
working to provide safe accessibility and online safety for children.
If I were parenting children today, I would not want to frighten them
but make them aware that predators can be, as we have seen: clergy,
teachers, coaches, doctors, family, anyone. I would do role-playing
with the children and give them certain situations they might encounter
and have them respond. That way I could determine their thinking, what
they would do, give them suggestions, and reinforce the idea that not
all friends or strangers are to be feared. They should be alert to
actions they do not believe are appropriate. They need to learn their
parents are not being nosey but are trying to keep them safe. The
family must work together for that goal.
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