Thursday, October 7, 2010

Stranger Danger

The other day, after talking to some of my friends, I decided it was time.

Time to give the stranger danger talk.

You see, Addison is very friendly. She is not afraid of anyone, ever. She usually introduces herself and her brother to anyone who will listen. I LOVE that about her. But I don't love that she tells everyone her name, my name and where we live every time we're at the grocery store.

When I was growing up, my parents were on top of the stranger danger thing. Our family even had a secret password (NO you cannot know what it is!) that was used should someone other than my parents need to pick us up from school. We practiced screaming "YOU'RE NOT MY DADDY!" Unfortunately, my dad was once pulled over at a police barricade because he looked strikingly similar to a bank robber who drove the same van as us. So I lived in daily fear that my dad's robber-twin would one day come to my school, guess the secret password and steal me away to live a Bonnie and Clyde-esque existence.

I had an overactive imagination.

Anyway, I didn't want to scare Addie, I just wanted her to be a little street smart. So we sat down with her. I started my spiel. I talked about how most adults were very nice, and it's OK to talk to them when mommy is nearby. But some adults want to hurt children or take them away, and that's why it's important to stay away from strangers when mommy and daddy aren't there. We talked about some situations where she would need to call for us or come quickly into the house (not that she's allowed to play outside by herself, but you know) In passing, I thought up some possible situations where she would need to walk away or call for me. One was the typical candy situation, (Actually, once I asked my nephew what he should do if a stranger offered candy, and he said "Say 'thank you'", oh Payton) and another was if a man had a new puppy and wanted Addison to come pet the puppy when I wasn't there. Addison gave the right answers, and we put the stranger thing to rest.

The next day was Saturday (Yes, I spend Friday nights giving stranger danger lectures to my four-year-old, jealous?) and we decided to go to a local orchard to pick up some peaches and apples. This particular orchard had an ice cream parlor inside so we sat down for a few scoops. No sooner had we sat down when a man holding a NEW PUPPY sat don next to us. He looked at Addison and said, "DO you want to pet the puppy?"

Addison's eyes went wide and she shook her head and said "No thank you!"

Apparently, I am the best stranger danger teacher there ever was. We then had to have another talk about how it's OK if I'm sitting right there, but I think it's safe to say that the stranger talk sunk in.

If I'm as successful with the sex talk as I was with the stranger talk, Addie will become a nun.

1 comments:

Carolyn said...

Hahaha, that is the funniest story ever. I'm glad it worked though!

 
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