I got chills watching this news report about a seven year old girl who fought off an abductor in a Walmart store. Rosie is six years old, so it is all too easy to imagine this could happen to her. We were in our local Kmart just a few days ago and I have to admit that I did let her out of my sight as we were in different aisles in the toy department. *sigh* I am extremely blessed that nothing happened to her. I am not going to make that mistake again.
If you haven’t seen or heard about the story, a man tried to grab a little girl in a Walmart store in Georgia. Surveillance cameras captured it on tape and police caught him shortly after the incident. It turns out he had recently been released from prison for manslaughter. Scared? I am.
The little girl kicked and screamed and he must have decided he wasn’t going to be able to get her out of the store, so he released her and ran away. Whew.
Do you talk to your children about what to do if someone tries to take them? When Rosie was going to go on her first school field trip, we had a “talk” about strangers, staying with the group, listening to the teacher/chaperons, and the possibility that someone could want to take her. This video makes me want to do more. She is sleeping right now, but tomorrow I am going to talk to her again and show her the video.
Scary.
Use this as an opportunity and reminder. Talk to your kids.
I saw that on the news and I am so glad that girl got away. It is very scary. We all know these things happen but actually seeing someone trying to take a child really gives me chills. I’ve talked to my son a little about strangers but he’s so young he doesn’t quite understand that there are bad people in this world. I will also be showing him the video.
That is a very scarier scenario indeed. This is why I never leave my child unattended.
The biggest issue with “stranger danger” is that it’s misleading. I’m not going to quote a statistic since I’m being a bit too lazy to look it up, but the majority of child abductions happen from someone the child knows personally like a divorced parent or someone else. It’s sad. :(