Tricky Adults

My neighbour and I were talking the other day about the difficulties in raising a child to be careful without making them paranoid... you know, teach them to not accept candy from a stranger, to not go into someone's house without the OK from Mommy, knowing when to trust someone (because, not all dangerous adults are strangers!). We don't want to scare our children, but we do want them to know how to keep themselves safe.

So.... when I came across this article: “Tricky People” Are the New Strangers" by CheckListMommy, I knew I had to share it - with her and with you! I LOVE the idea of "Tricky Adults" .... unlike the old "stranger danger" it does not give a false sense of security to the child (or parent) just because there isn't a stranger around. Instead, it teaches that any adult who is trying to trick a child shouldn't be trusted. Examples are :

• grown-ups who ask kids for help
• grown-ups who tell children to keep secrets from Mommy & Daddy
• grown-ups who insist there is no need to ask Mommy & Daddy before doing something 
• grown-ups who try to trick a child into believing that Mommy said it was OK (Mommy would tell you herself!) 

In addition to describing a tricky adult to kids, the article also tells us what we, as parents, need to be suspicious of.... and it provides a great reason (one that I never thought of at least) to teach kids the proper names for their privates. I couldn't say any of it any better than she does, so check out the full article here.

Stay safe, my friends!