Keep Your Child Safe With A Secret Word

A few weeks ago, I saw a posting on our community Facebook page, saying that two women tried to lure two young girls into their car outside a dance studio in Rancho Bernardo. The story goes that the women had said to the girls that their moms had sent them to pick them up, and they had to hurry, there was an emergency at home. The girls were spooked, and ran inside the dance studio to tell their instructor. When the instructor went outside, the car and the women were gone.

When my son was four, we taught him a secret word. We told him that if either of his moms failed to show up to pick him up from school, he was not to go with anyone unless they knew the secret word. We emphasized that even if the person said that his moms were hurt, and needed him at the hospital, he was not to go unless they knew the secret word.

This trick can save your child's life in a situation like the one outside the dance studio. To this day, my son knows not to go with absolutely anyone unless they know the secret word. 

He's learned his lesson well.  My son used this trick for the first time ever last week. We were a few minutes late picking him up from school, and my next door neighbor offered to take him home. He wouldn't go. "You need to tell me the secret word," he said.