Why I Wrote and Published What Would You Do? A Kid’s Guide to Staying Safe in a World of Strangers:
As a former teacher, I have mentored students in every capacity of their educational development. As a mother and grandmother, I share concerns with all parents for the safety of children. Love of children and concern for their safety and welfare is the motivating factor behind the development of my book, What Would You Do? A Kid’s Guide to Staying Safe in a World of Strangers.
Current statistics from The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children show that about 260,000 children are abducted every year in the United States. The number of children who are reported as missing every year in the United States is 800,000.That averages about 2000 children a day. The following statistics are even more alarming:
• Forty percent of children in stereotypical kidnappings are killed.
• Four percent of children are never found.
• Seventy-nine percent of kidnappings are carried out by strangers and twenty-one percent by acquaintances.
Almost seventy-five percent of American parents fear that their children might become victims of abduction.
The aforementioned statistics on abducted and missing children are what make such a book as What Would You Do? A Kid’s Guide to Staying Safe in a World of Strangers such an important guide book to add to children’s and parent’s home book collections and to include in teachers’ classroom collections and in libraries in elementary and middle schools across the United States. The book can be acquired through the publisher website, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Books-A-Million.
In addition, I offer workshops to schools and other educational institutions or organizations. The workshops reinforce for children, in a fun and creative way, some of the information and strategies presented in What Would You Do? A Kid’s Guide to Staying Safe in a World of Strangers. Information for scheduling workshops can be accessed through the publisher, Headline Books, Inc. (cathy@headlinebooks.com) or through the author at info@authormelissaharkerridenour.com or through Facebook, Linked In or My Space. Brochures on the workshops are available upon request.
Care to share your thoughts on the increasing predator threat to our children's safety?
The predator threat is really only increasing because the population is increasing, and because our legal system has not found a proper way to deal with these predators. The idea that someone would ever be released after doing these kinds of things is a mystery, and it's possible that what we should be doing, is pushing to have stricter laws put in place to deal with crimes against children. If these folks were locked up for life, it might be more expensive for us in $$, but we really can't afford to do things the way they're being done now.
ReplyDeleteAs for what we tell our children, it's always been a very fine balance. Telling children not to talk to strangers not only won't keep them safe, it will instill a fear of people they don't know that could stay with them for life. That's the opposite of protecting them.
The other issue is that, no matter how well parents feel they've armored their children against abduction by a stranger, when tested, MOST children will fail the test.
We may need to do more...we may need to ACTUALLY test our children, and then teach them what they did wrong, if they fail. Then, we test them again...until they get it.
A child taught that it's ok to talk to strangers, but not to approach or go with anyone their parents haven't told them is ok, is probably much better off than one told 'don't talk to strangers'. Children often assume that a friendly person is a friend...and thus, not a stranger. The danger isn't from strangers...it's from predators. Children should be taught how to make that distinction, too.
I appreciate your position on this subject. You are right that we should not be telling children not to talk to any strangers. That is why my book, What Would You Do? A Kid's Guide to Staying Safe in a World of Strangers, suggests doing away with the phrase "stranger danger". Such a phrase may make children think all strangers are bad. The truth is that most people, including most strangers, are good. But some people, including some strangers, are not good. My book teaches children a method for determining whom they should and should not trust.
ReplyDeleteI very much welcome your response. Please know that I would love to have you subscribe to my blog and comment any time.