Stranger danger, need to have words with Dd's but don't want to scare them.

[nutcackle]

School have sent a letter home today informing us that there have been several attempted abductions at primary schools in our area. Children were approached and one was actually grabbed but managed to escape.

Both dd's know about it as it was all round the playground but I feel I have to explain to them why i will be being more careful and why they have to stay with me for the moment rather than run up and down the playground as they currently do.

I have already told dd2 that she can no longer play on the climbing frame whilst i get dd1 (up other end of playground), and I told her what the letter said but no more cos i don't want to scare her. Don't think she got the point though.

We've had the same letter, nutty - the worrying thing is that when I asked dd what she'd do if anyone asked her to go with them, she said she'd go

I'm unsure how to deal with it at the moment.

i remember this happening close to me when i was a kid and my mum told me the truth. it was scary, but i was much more aware than i would have been if i wasnt scared (obviously, i wasnt too scared to leave the house or anything). sometimes they need to hear the truth and know that the world isnt all nice and fluffy

All you can do is keep reminding her. its ahrd to get the right balance without really sacring them. We also have a password so only the people I have told to pick them up know it and my children have to ask them it.

Oh dear WWB.

I am quite confident that Dd1 (7) would not go with anyone she didn't know and would tell me if anyone approached her, but I am not so sure about Dd2 (5).

I am sure the school will be discussing it in assembly but i still want to have a word myself.

Have you any idea which schools it was ??

TBH the end of the paygrpund that is nearest the gate gets so crowded it would be very hard to see anyone sneak in and grab a child before it's too late as you just cannot see whats going on where.

I don't know which schools, the letter just said that a few schools in the area hace reported seeing the man, and that he's been asking children to go with him.

A man has been arrested in Coventry today for the same thing but I don't suppose there is any hope that it's the same man.

Will just have to have eyes in the back of our heads then i think.

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I honestly thought that dd was beginning to understand about not going with anyone - it's a bit worrying that she would go. She said that if she asked him his name then he wouldn't be a stranger and she could go!

Apparently the school are going to reinforce the stranger danger message, and police are going to be maintaining a presence in the area - although I've seen no sign of any police anywhere near the school.

Essbee, I'll have a look in the library, see if I can get hold of a book for us to read. Is there a particular one that you thought was good, or that would be appropriate for a 4 year old?

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That's brilliant, thanks Essbee.

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Would you mind? That would be great, if I could.

Nutty, we've had another letter today with a bit more information on it. There are apparently a couple of men who have been seen, one is young and has a red Clio, the other is older, bald and smokes a cigar. The schools where children have been approached are Streetly, Plantsbrook and Boldmere. There have also been reports of two men in a turquoise car who tried to get two children of 11 and 13 to go with them on Birmingham Road.

All but two of the children who have been approached have been secondary school age, the two younger children were approached outside Boldmere school.

I keep trying to tell dd how important it is not to go with anyone she doesn't know, or even someone she knows if I haven't told her that it's OK, but it's going in one ear and out the other.

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Thanks, essbee.

Ah poo, can't get onto MSN. I'll send you an email instead!

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