Safe Words = Safe Kids

This past weekend, I spent some time in downtown Silver Spring. There they have water fountains that shoot water from the ground, similar to the ones at the Inner Harbor. Due to the 90+ degree temperatures, more than 50 kids in their bathing suits, underwear and clothes were running in and out of the water. Some parents were standing on the perimeter, just out of reach of the shooting waters, watching their kids play. Other parents, were further away talking with friends or enjoying the music of the band. I watched countless children wander into the street or approach other adults thinking the tall individual was their mother or father or scan the crowd frantically for their parent.

This isn't the first time I have seen parents not paying proper attention to their children. We've all witnessed this behavior in grocery/department stores, parking lots, amusement parks and the list goes on. It only takes a second for an unwatched child to get hit by car or be taken by a stranger.

Some might think I am over exaggerating. But every day in the United States, more than 2,000 children are reported missing or kidnapped. When I was 10 or 11, I had the potential to be one of those children. While roller skating, a man in a car approached me and asked me to help look for his lost dog. He tried to lure me into his car with a popular toy at the time. I knew from the countless conversations my parents had with me about strangers that this man was trouble. I told him "no" and skated as fast as I could to my baby sitter's house, which was closer than my own home.

My parents not only talked to me about strangers, they also gave me a "safe" word. If someone came up to me and asked me to go with them or to get in their car, I was to ask them for the safe word. If they did not know the safe word, I was to assume that my parents hadn't given them permission to pick me up or take me somewhere.

I encourage all parents to have conversations about strangers and to develop a safe word for each of their children. Safe words should be something the child will easily remember, but not too easy that anyone could guess it. It could be a favorite character from a movie or book, a pet's name or the month in which they are born. Be sure to ask your child their safe word every now and then to ensure they know it.

A few minutes talking about strangers can be the difference between your child not being one of 2,000 children that go missing each day.