That Silly Field Trip Re-Visited
Do you guys remember back in October sometime when I was thwarting around about a field trip my kid was suppose to go on but they wouldn’t allow parents to go along. And, then they told me it was because the trip to The Alabama Ballet was a teachers and students only because that was the rule from The Alabama Ballet. And, then, remember how someone contacted me from The Alabama Ballet and said that was not their rule.
Well, I still said no that my son was not going. And, why would I do this? Well, there are several reasons but even if I had still be straddling the fence on the matter when they took their trip at Christmas to see Toyland, I would have made up my mind right then and there that there is no way in hell my child is going with that little supervision. I mean, there were tons of parents on this trip and it was a mad house and the teachers were having a hard time keeping up with the kids. So, no, my son will not be attending The Alabama Ballet unless sometime between now and then I find out that I can go.
Again, why is that so? Well, go read this article entitled Stranger Danger by Adam Walsh. Polly Klaas. Elizabeth Smart. Jessica Lunsford. Madeleine McCann and you will know exactly why. I’m going to give you just a few of the highlights….
1. "the word “stranger” triggers a certain feeling in children. They picture someone ugly and mean-looking who could be identified from a mile away as an unsafe person."
Reality is, most strangers that have the intent of grabbing a child and running, they don’t look like that. They purposefully make themselves look friendly and even professional. So, yea, no such thing as "stranger danger" in my book.
2. "To most children, a friendly person is automatically a friend, not a stranger."
My son lives by this rule….I kid you not, he loves everyone he meets.
What kids really need to know is highlighted in the article and I’m just briefing you here:
1. The “Safe Adults”. This is a very small group, consisting only of the child’s parents, a grandparent or two, and a trusted friend.
2. The “Kinda Knows”. This is the group that includes all the people the child sees on a regular basis who aren’t in the Safe Adult group.
3. The “Don’t Knows”. This group is the most like the traditional “strangers” we hear so much about.
You can also check the article for a Stranger Safety DVD
January 5th, 2009 at 10:11 am
Of course, the people most likely to harm a child aren’t strangers at all. Stranger abductions are a tiny subset of all abductions (most of which are custody disputes), and a tiny subset even of all abductions that have to do with harming the kid.
Most molested children - or children harmed in other ways - are harmed by their close family members. The next largest group of people likely to harm any particular child are other adults known to the child - teachers, religious figures, doctors, babysitters, neighbors.
January 6th, 2009 at 10:32 am
[...] but for some reason, lately, I’m beating horses on all my sites. Here I am beating the homeschooling horse. On my personal blog? I’m beating the potty training and weight loss horses over [...]