Suppose your child suddenly disappeared. What would you do?
We’re not talking about bad kids that repeatedly threaten to run away. We mean your perfectly normal, loving child that always comes home as expected.
But, this afternoon, they just didn’t come home. Where do you turn?
As hard as that is to imagine, that, unfortunately, happens every day to many families. It’s estimated that more than 1,000 children go missing every day. That’s 460,000 per year according to the FBI.
While most return in 24 hours or less, many are kidnapped and pressed into forced labor or the sex trade. Even the most conservative numbers suggest that 4,500 to 21,000 juveniles are coerced into sexual activities. That’s between one and five dozen every single day.
The world today is a far scarier place than it has ever been. Predators have honed their skills so well that they could con most adults, so yes, definitely, they can fool your children…unless, they are prepared.
Children need to be aware of the possibility of both abduction and seduction. Children left alone for even a minute can be scooped up and kidnapped for ransom or for sale to unscrupulous individuals. Not only should children be taught not to talk to strangers, they also need to be aware of unsafe environments like wooded lots, parking lots and abandoned buildings.
Malls and online are favorite spots for those who will seduce at-risk children into leaving home voluntarily, in return for promises of love, affection or money. Children with low self-esteem, with trouble at home, or those considered ‘outsiders’ at school are especially vulnerable. Even those with otherwise good parents and a safe home life can be vulnerable. If you spend more time each evening on your cell phone or your computer than you do talking to your child – you could be raising a child in search of affection or attention elsewhere.
Do a Google search on human trafficking and you’ll be horrified by many of the 69-million results you’ll find – from sex slavery, to torture, to forced labor, even to murder. What makes these more horrifying than the world’s worst horror movie is that these are happening every day to someone’s defenseless child – someone who could have been innocently playing at the playground just a week before.
What to do now?
We each need to have conversations with our children and grandchildren, exposing them to the dangers of our society and helping them to be prepared. This becomes a huge responsibility on two counts and each guardian needs to weigh both carefully – mental readiness to understand the issues and emotional ability to handle the dangers.
Children mature at greatly different rates and their capacity to understand and process the dangers vary widely. If your child is more mature, a graphic description of a sexual predator’s motives and methods is highly suggested. You might start with this video and then have a frank discussion to see if it resonates with your child or maybe one of their friends.
If your child is younger, you might start with a simple statement that there are some people who like to harm children, and unless they’ve been introduced by the parents, they should never have a conversation with another adult if they are by themselves.
Every parent must understand their child’s ability to deal with the frightening unknown, and give more information as they become older and able to process more. The more they know, the better they can protect themselves and their friends. The risk is not doing anything. Putting off the conversation is the worst thing you might ever do.
Don’t allow yourself to ever look back and regret the missed opportunity to have a life-saving discussion.
More help
If you’ve had a conversation like we are proposing, please share it in the comments below. Other parents will certainly be eager to hear what works and how best to share this message.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks