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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – Every day, we encounter people we don’t know, and it’s important to teach our children about stranger danger.
John Hopkins Medicine acknowledges that while abductions and inappropriate stranger situations are rare, it’s important to keep our kids safe and secure.
Kelly Wharton, a nurse practitioner at Sanford explained, “Kids don’t have all of the thought capacity to be able to know if they’re in a situation that’s safe or not and so they really rely on their caregivers to make sure that they have that supervision to keep them safe and make sure that if there is something dangerous that can be delt with appropriately.”
Advocates for child safety say that you should start having the conversation about stranger danger with your children early and practice scenarios with them so they can identify a potentially dangerous situation.
“Teaching them that no adult should be asking them to go help look for a pet, or no adults should be offering to give them a ride somewhere that they don’t know,” Wharton said.
Wharton said it’s ok to teach your child to be rude or mean to anybody, making them feel uncomfortable.
Encourage them to kick or scream to get away and get the attention of safe adults. Also designate a safe place to meet with your child in case they become lost.
She said, “Being able to identify one certain place that doesn’t move and teaching them that you go to that place and don’t move, then the adult will be able to find them quicker as well.”
If your child is old enough, go over important information. This can be beneficial for law enforcement, staff, security, and safe adults.
“Basic things would be parents’ names, phone number if they’re able to, if they’re old enough to know their address and have that memorized, those are all really helpful things,” said Wharton.
For more information and tips, you can visit the National Center for Missing or Exploited Children.
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