Don't Take Candy from Strangers-- especially old hags carrying a basket of apples

After a particularly disturbing Law and Order episode sent me running into my children’s bedrooms to make sure they were still there, I decided it was time to commence with daily safety quizzes.
“Do we talk to strangers?” I asked.
“No,” they said proudly.
“Good answer,” I said, thinking the subject was over.
“How do we make friends, then?” my oldest daughter asked.

Good question. In the parent manual that came with my children when they were born, it just has the catch phrase “don’t talk to strangers.” It doesn’t say anything about making friends-- except smile, be polite and introduce yourself with a firm handshake.

“Well, you can talk to other children if a trustworthy adult is nearby,” I said. “But only talk to adults if I’m there or your dad is there or an adult you really know is standing right next to you.”

I’m a little sensitive to the subject.
I remember the scare tactics my elementary school used during the 1980s to teach me not to talk to strangers.

This was during a period of heightened awareness of child abduction. Adam Walsh had been abducted and killed, causing most parents to hold onto their children with tourniquet-force strength.
Schools across the nation began launching “don’t talk to strangers” campaigns and went to great lengths to describe good touching and bad touching.

For many schools, this was probably nothing new, but looking back I think my school went overboard.
I remember my teacher saying with the most serious-- almost threatening voice, “It could be your dad, your uncle, your grandfather, babysitter or the nice man down the street-- bad people don’t have a look. It can be anyone, anywhere.”

I went home from school, thinking everyone was out to get me. I was terrified to leave my mother’s side, and though I had always been “Daddy’s Little Girl”, I would barely let my father near me anymore.

Gone were the days of childhood rough-housing. I was too afraid it would turn ugly-- like my teacher with the best of intentions warned me it could.

I certainly don’t fault my teacher for being zealous with the subject. It is a serious subject that must be taught. I am just saddened that it affected me so greatly.

Children shouldn’t live in fear, but they should be well informed and aware.
I decided to approach the subject with a light heart and some seriousness thrown in for good measure.

We went back to the basics and took out the parenting manuals of yesteryear “Grimm’s Fairytales.”

After reading healthy doses of “Jack and the Beanstalk,” “Hansel and Gretel,” “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” we learned not to talk to strangers or go into their homes because a man-eating giant, wicked witch or angry bears might live there.
“The Three Little Pigs” and “Little Red Riding Hood” taught us install security systems and not to answer the door because a wolf might be lurking behind the corner.
The fairytales have given way to our ever popular “daily quizzes,” which probably do more good than a little light reading of the darkest terrors of childhood (fairytales).
“What do we do if a stranger approaches you?” I ask.
“Don’t talk to him and yell for help,” they chimed in.
“OK that’s pretty good,” I said, “What if he’s lost his puppy and wants you to help him look for it? Do we help him?“
“No”, they said.
“What if he offers you ice cream or candy? Do we take it?” I ask.
“No,” they said.
“Well, what if he just wants directions?” I ask. “Do you go near him and give them to him or do you get an adult?”
“An adult,” they said.
“But what if you forget and he tries to grab you?” I ask.
“I’d scream and kick him in the knee,” my oldest daughter said.
“Yeah well, I’d kick him in the chicken eyeball,” my middle child shouted with great enthusiasm.
Now my dear readers I have no idea where the chicken eye ball is or what it is, but I can assure you that if you kick the Big Bad Wolf there, I don’t think he’ll blow your house down.

(previously published in the Paradise Post by the Blogger who goes by Bonnie B-- hey I'm too busy to write something new, so here is some old stuff)