HOLY SMOKES BATGIRL!!! Calm down!!!
I refuse to live my life in fear. I refuse to not like my kids have some of the freedoms I had growing up...yes, bad people were around then - we just didn't have 24 hour news coverage and the internet to give us all the dirty details.
No, I don't know anyone whose child has been abducted. I did have a girl friend in high school, sat next to me in Business Administration, get murdered by her boy friend and buried in a shallow grave in the orange field near her home.
Yes, we have to protect our kids...but not by hovering over them every step of the way...they NEED to be able to self-sufficient at some point in their lives...call me a horrible mom, but:
my kids play outside without me hovering.
my kids go to the park without me.
my boys walk the dog in the evening around the block.
I have left my kids in the car at a gas station that is next to the fire department.
I do NOT leave my kids alone in a care while I'm at a store.
I use the watchdog site to see if there are sexual offenders in our area - and I show them their pictures. Not to scare them but to SHOW them - INFORM them, EDUCATE them.
One of the reasons I allow my kids these freedoms is because my oldest son is a Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do and youngest is a Red Belt. There are specific rules that they must follow...NEVER leave each other alone. There is strength in numbers. And I teach them common sense - well, it can't be taught - but you can teach them that NO ADULT will EVER need a child to help them find a dog, puppy, cat, or kitten. NO ADULT will EVER need a child to smell something to see if I'll like it.
So instead of spreading FEAR - spread EDUCATION...children need to be allowed to be kids...as it it society is forcing them to grow up too fast as it is.