Anyone have an comments on what we as a population can do to protect our children better from what is happening in the world today. Yesterday a 7 year old girl was walking home (as reported by the news) from school and was abducted. She was with several other children at the time. Today a body has been found but unsure if it is this little girl or not. My heart is so sad for these parents and the toment and fear that this little girl endured. Is there anythng that we can do to help to stop this kind of injustice towards our children in this country? Any ideas? I am just so worried about all of our children and grandchildren and what kind of a world they are growing up in when this type of stuff reigns as it does. To me this is one of the most important issues in this country. Red
yes if this is the same little girl she was found in my area the landfill is out by the swamp its heart breaking for our town , she was in orande park below jax and found up here WHAT IS THIS WORLD COMING TOO ?
this is so sad. No parent should have to deal with this. Parents need to go back o teaching children not to talk to strangers and to stay in a group, do not walk alone, when some one tries to talk to them they need to run to safe place and scream for help.
I saw it on the news today while at the hopital with my great niece.
She was being tested for swine fu, came back negative.
I was raised not to talk to strangers, I remember walking home from grade school and this man wanted to give me and my sisters a ride to our home. We made a big fuss about we don't talk to strangers, course that is what we were doing!
The man turned out to be the insurance man and he was on the way to our home, showed up about 15 minutes after we got home.
you know all I can think of is to keep pounding in our kids and grandkids heads about "stranger danger" it is a sad thing when out little ones can't even walk a block away without fear of something bad happening.I remember when I was about eight playing in a park and my big brother playing ball nearby and I was on the swings and this man came up behind me and asked to push me on the swing, I started to scream and my big brother and all his buddies came running and this guy took off like you know what.This was many years ago so the danger has always been there.It is indeed a sad world out there. Wish I had some good suggestions other than talk to your kids and just tell them to scream if they have to.What do you guys thibk.Good thread by the way!
It's a shame when this happens.. Will it keep hapening? Yes fro there is alot of creeps out there... Not saying this is the case but there is alot of parents that really push thier kids to do outdoor activities just so they can have a little time to them selfs.. Parents pound in thier childrens heads the do's and donts with strangers but is not enough. My son took a self defense class when he was 9 and they really show the kids how to escape, but its wether the kids remember.. I have no answer to fix the problem but if children are left un atended weather walking from school or just down the block they will be tempted.
This is so sad. Even if this little girl put up a fight it would be almost useless since it would be easy for an adult to overpower her. I always told my children to walk in a group, most predators would be reluctant to grab a child if there are witnesses. I also told them to scream FIRE. Most of us will go and investigate if we hear this word. At least this is what we were taught in school. I worry a great deal about my daughter who is petite and could be overpowered rather easily because of her size. She is working in the Cleveland area which is known for crime. I wish they would change the concealed weapons laws. She has a permit to carry here in PA, but is not permitted to carry in OH. She now must take a 3 day course ( I think that is what she told me) in OH so she can carry a gun to protect herself. Going to school and working full time she just can't find the time to get the course in. As Still has written in the past there are some states that allow you to carry if you have a permit in another state. In my opinion there should be no boundaries on this. If you have a permit in one state you should be permitted to carry in all states. I believe that everyone should have the right to protect their own life. If allot more people would get a permit to carry I think that criminals would be a bit more leery about who they attack. After all if criminals knew that say 50 % of the women walking around out there were carrying a gun there wouldn't be as many women attacked each year. Just my thoughts....
Heartbreaking news. We had a situation a few years ago on a main street where the younger sister was walking several feet ahead of her older brother. Man pulled over and tried to snatch the young girl. Her brother's yelling and running towards him stopped him, she didn't stand a chance if she was alone.
I don't believe children of any age even teens should walk alone. One ot two can't stop an attacker but if there's a group there is a chance. I think I have made my daughter Hyper-vigilent when it comes to her kids.
Red....I think being in not letting our children walk, play, ride bikes, etc alone is the biggest hinderance to an attacker.
No one is safe in this world today......not just children. Our world is so full of perverts and creeps it is very difficult to know what exactly are the right things to do to protect children and your own self. Alot of good suggestions posted, for sure. But like Backache said, it is they can overpower children and women especially. This is just a sad situation we live in today. Very, very scarey!
Cajun Hugsssssssssssss,
MJC
Thanks everyone for the posts and replies to this thread. My heart was breaking for the past couple of days. Just knowing this little girl was out there and no one was helping her broke my heart. From what I read she was with a group of children walking home from school. Within this group was her twin sister, and a couple of brothers. For some reason she ran ahead of them, and no one ever saw her again. They have now found her body. I just want to scream at someone about this. This should not be happening to our children or even teenagers or adults alike. I was reading about crimes against children and found a statistic that stated that 5-10,000 disappear every week. How many are domestic disputes I don't know but how sad that number is.
When I was 9 years old, my 14 years old aunt was raped and beaten almost to death in her own bed. My grandfather left early to get to the saw mill where he worked by 6 am. My grandmother would leave the three girls, (14 year old was the oldest, one of them is 3 months younger than me) in their beds while she went up to the barn to milk the cows and gather her eggs. This particular morning she came back a little early and walked in on the situation. She took off screaming. I think she was in shock. When she did that, the man headed out down the hill where his car was parked. My grandmother ran to our house which was the closest to her calling for my dad. We thought by what she was saying that a man had taken my aunt and dad's little sister. That was not the case. Anyway my dad was dressed and out the door, down the hill in his truck, and saw the man getting into his car. Dad was looking for Judy Carol and didn't see her but followed this man around to his home. This man was my third grade school teacher's husband. What a pervert. Long and short of the story, I have never felt comfortable about most things... I can't stay in my home without lots of locks etc etc etc.
Then when my son was 12 he and his friend asked me if they could ride their bics to the store (I would never allow this now) to get air in their tires. They did and then about 30 minutes later Chris came home alone. I asked him where his friend was and his name is Chris also and he said that the man at the gas station offered him a job in the back of the gas station. I called his mother to let her know what was happening but could not get her so I called Del who was at work. He came home after my son's friend still had not come home and another hour had pasted. I walked to the gas station. He was not there and the man there said he didn't know anything about it. Consequently I called the police at that time. They came and then began a search. I was still unable to locate his mother who lived in the same appartment complex as we were living in. Finally around 1 am, I get a call from the police. They found this young man. I won't say exactly what happened to him but your imagination can figure it out...I will say that he was put into a gunny sack and then ran over 3 times expecting him to die after he was stabbed with a screw driver 3 times in the chest. The man that abducted him was an employee of the gas station and he was caught and sent to jail for the 2nd time for child endangerment and a few other charges this time. This was before Megan's law went into place.
Even Megan was found in the skirts of my nuring home's grounds. Her grandmother lived in one of my nursing homes...that is all I can say about that...but this is so very real to me. I pray daily for my grandchildren that as RNvic would say "send his angels" to protect them.
Another thought is for children to carry cell phones with locators on them. I don't really know how affective this is, but our Alexia has one so that mom can check at an y time and know where she is. I am thankful this technology exist today. thanks for your responses. I know we are all concerned and worried about the safety of our children and grandchildren. love you Red