I live in a tourist town with tons of out of state visitors. There are 141 sexual offenders (several repeat and most were with little kids!) within 5 miles of my home. So please explain to me why parents haven't taught their children not to go up to strangers especially those with say candy, toys, or a dog!

I normally don't walk around the time school gets out but I ended up doing that today and I had a ton of little kids come up to me asking to pet my dog! I wouldn't let them and was even mean about it because it scared me. This is just insane to me.

Edit: There were no adults around watching them.

i wonder if a concerned citizen should call that school and suggest a stranger danger lesson is needed?

um...what's wrong with a GROUP of kids asking a WOMAN to pet her dog? I knew not to talk to single (as in alone at the time) men when I was little, but my mum always said that if I get lost to look for a woman with kids, or a family. I would hate to have my children grow up in a world where they can't trust anyone, and that's not what I will be teaching them.

I think you're going a bit OTT with your concern.

Who the hell says that a woman can't be a pervert/pedophile or just a plain psycho?

Not saying kids should be afraid of everyone, but it doesn't hurt to teach your children to have some caution around people they don't know.

I think OP is right to be concerned.
Although I'd rather if my kid needed help that they go to a woman, you just cant differ between the two now in terms of be scared of men but not women.

What about Rosemary West??

We were always taught not to approach any stranger - even other children because they could be "working" and lead you back to their home or a car or something.

You can't ever be too careful where children are concerned in my opinion. It is sad and I agree, I don't really want my children growing up in a world where they can't trust people, but sad as it is that's how this world is and we need to teach our children to be aware of these things.

I agree with teresapk - maybe you should phone the school and suggest a stranger danger lesson.

I am currently doing a dissertation on the topic of children and risk aversion and one of my chapters is on "stranger danger".

Research actually shows that the number of abductions and deaths caused by strangers is very similar to that of 30 or more years ago, meaning that there is no increase in risk. Children are far more likely to be abused or killed by family members or people they know. When such an horrible crime like abduction and murder of a child occurs it is generally plastered all over the media which can make our perception of the risk of strangers much higher than it actually is. Every parent is going to be weary of their children speaking to strangers but the vast majority of them will mean no harm. It is such a shame that society has changed so much that we feel the need to lead our children to believe that every stranger is a threat to them. It also leads to people being worried about approaching and talking to children in case they are accused of trying to abduct them or hurt them. There have been cases where children have been in danger or abducted and witnesses have come forward and said they thought something was wrong but didnt want to intervene due to fear of being accused.

Statistically speaking men are more likely to abduct and hurt a child than women but obviously thats not to say women are not capable. But statistically speaking children are just as likely, if not more to be injured or killed by another child or friend or be abused by a teacher or a priest. Where do we draw the line? how much should we wrap our children up in cotton wool? should we teach our children to completely stay away from strangers which could have consequences for their social and emotional wellbeing (research shows this) or should we teach them about dangers and how to assess risk and use their initiative and judgment? There is a difference between going up to a man sat in a car who has called you over to offer you a bag of sweets to going up to a lady walking a dog and asking if you can stroke it. Just food for thought, but personally i think protecting children from ALL strangers may do more harm than good for several reasons, just my opinion from the research i have done.

Interesting info. I understand what your saying about not talking to strangers and such.

It just bugs me out I guess.

There have been plenty of times when kids have been kidnapped getting off a bus with their parent standing a little bit away watching them get home. Those kids were surrounded by other kids getting off a bus and the bus driver and a parent. So I don't think there's anything wrong with being too safe. If my kid rides a bus I will wait at the bus stop and pick them up, not watch from afar and I would never let my child walk home. Even in a group. When they get older then sure they can walk home with friends or something, but I Will have made sure my kids know damn well how to protect themselves in case of an encounter.

This isn't the fantasy world where no one gets hurt. I see absolutely no harm in taking precautions.

I work at a major tourist attraction and run into a lot of lost children. The saddest thing is seeing an already freaked out kid freak out even more as they try to run from people wanting to help because their parents taught them that NO stranger was to be trusted. Not even a person dressed like a police officer. There's cautious and there's going overboard... it's hard to see the line sometimes.