Strong Mothers Against Child Mol

Strong Mothers Against Child Molesters

Safety Tips

Resources from other organizations:

Click on the dog to go to John Walsh's Family Watchdog website, where you can find registered sex offenders in your neighborhood:

Click on the picture below to go to John Walsh and Julie Clark's website, The Safe Side. You can download a free safety guide and/or order their award-winning video, The Safe Side.

Perhaps you could get a few copies

and share them with your friends and your child's school.

Click below for the Idaho Attorney General's video on Internet Safety; ProtecTeens:

Tips:

     Names on Clothing

     Secret Password

     Escort Your Children

     "Go Give Your Aunt a Kiss"

Other Websites

     McGruff's Safety Information for Grown-

           Ups

     California Department of Justice: How

           to Protect Yourself and Your

           Family

     Oprah: Prevent Your Child From Being

            Abducted

     Family Watch Dog (John Walsh)

Names on Clothing:

Don't put young children's names on their clothes or backpacks. This makes it easy for an abductor to say, "Anna! Anna! Your mother sent me to get you. She's in the hospital."
Because the abductor knows their name, most children in this situation will believe the abductor.

Secret Password:

Set up a secret password with your child. If a stranger says, "Your Mom / Dad sent me to get you," your child can ask, "All right. What's the secret password?" If the stranger doesn't know the password, Mom or Dad didn't really send him or her. Make it something no one would guess. Avoid "cars," puppies," or "Barbie." Make it something only you and your child would know about.
Or the password can be a question: "What's Aunt Fannie's real middle name?"
The funnier it is, the easier it will be for your child to remember.

Escort Your Children:

Even as we were Searching for Dylan and Shasta Groene, local kindergartners walked home from school alone. Small children should always be supervised by a trusted adult. At the very least, they should be walking in groups.

Screen people who are going to be spending a lot of time with your children.

In Kootenai County, you can go to downstairs in the new courthouse, to the Records Department. There are computers there for the public to use. You can type in anyone's name in Kootenai County and pull up their criminal record, if they have one. Like checking the Registered Sex Offender list for faces that look familiar, this does not mean that you are neurotic or paranoid. It just makes you a responsible parent in an age where such precautions have unfortunately become necessary. Talk to people who know this new person in your life. When the person is alone with your children, walk in unannounced and observe their interaction with your children.

"Go Give Your Aunt a Kiss":

This one is VERY IMPORTANT. How many times have we told our children to go give aunt so-and-so a kiss? When the child says they don't want to, what do we do? We get embarrassed, laugh a little, and push them to go do it. Never, ever, ever do this to your child. It seems perfectly harmless, but it teaches your child to accept an uncomfortable touch.

The Following Websites Offer

Additional, Valuable Information.

Please read through them at least once.

McGruff's Safety information for Grown-ups

SAMPLE

Keeping Secrets

"...The rule is

- If a secret can't hurt someone or

something, keep it.
- If a secret can hurt someone or

something, tell an adult.
- If you're not sure, tell.

"...Sometimes it can be hard for children to decide whether to tell a secret or keep it. The possible consequences may not be clearly negative or positive, the child may not want to violate someone's trust, and he or she may not want to get in trouble.
     "You can help children practice making the right decisions by role-playing different scenarios about secrets. Brainstorm possible secrets with children and ask them to say which ones they would keep, and which they would tell to an adult. Have them decide which adult they would talk to, and what they would do if the first adult they tell doesn't help.
     "Here are some more ways you can help children make positive decisions about secrets...

     "Tell kids that if the first adult they tell a secret to doesn't believe them or won't help, to keep telling an adult until they get help."

Sections of this website include,

among others:

What Girls Need to Know

Cybersafe Girls
"...In 2002, the Girl Scout Research Institute found that 30 percent of teenage girls polled had been sexually harassed in a chat room. Only 7 percent had told their parents about it."

What You Can Do

Megan's Law -- California Dept. of Justice:
How to Protect Yourself and Your Family

SAMPLE

· "Make sure you know where each of your children is at all times.... Make it a rule that your children check in with you when they arrive at or depart from a particular location and when there is a change in plans. You should also let them know when YOU are running late or if your plans have changed so that they can see the rule is for safety purposes and not being used to 'check up' on them."

· "Notice when someone shows one or all of your children a great deal of attention or begins giving them gifts..."

· "Also remember that in the vast majority of cases (up to 90%), children are molested by someone they know. Your efforts at keeping your child safe must be informed by this fact and not focused exclusively on the danger that strangers may present."

· "Talk to your children about personal safety issues as they relate to child sexual abuse. Do this when you talk to your children about bike safety, crossing the street, or talking to strangers. It is, in many ways, just another personal safety rule about which children need to be aware."

"FOR YOU:

"Do not talk yourself out of feeling uncomfortable being alone with someone simply because he or she is an acquaintance or a friend of a friend-most sexual abusers are someone the victim knows. Be wary of friends or dates who test your boundaries by making unwanted physical advances to you and then ignore or minimize your protests and other signs that you do not like their behavior."

Oprah: Prevent Your Child From Being Abducted

Sample

"Bob Stuber, an expert on the prevention of abductions, says...
"To get out of a dangerous situation it takes smart choices, not scared reactions. Scared reactions are predictable, and kidnappers are looking for them. Come up with techniques that your child is comfortable with that teach them to not panic under pressure or when they're scared.

"Don't equate stranger with danger. Teach your child how to recognize a potentially dangerous action instead of a potentially dangerous person. For example: If your child is walking down the street and a person smiling and waving passes them in a car, that person is not dangerous. If the person gets out of the car and approaches your child, that is a dangerous action and your child can get away from it."

Related Resource

"To learn more about Bob Stuber's Escape School, visit www.escapeschool.com.
"Don't equate stranger with danger. Teach your child how to recognize a potentially dangerous action instead of a potentially dangerous person. For example: If your child is walking down the street and a person smiling and waving passes them in a car, that person is not dangerous. If the person gets out of the car and approaches your child, that is a dangerous action and your child can get away from it."

Family Watch Dog

SAMPLE

Tips to stay safe

Children

· "Always tell your parents where you are going."

· "Never enter any home without getting your parent's permission first."

· "Never get into any vehicle, unless your parents know and have said it's OK."

· "Remember anything weird that an adult says or does to you and tell your parents immediately."

· "Run away from people who offer you candy or other treats or want you to help look for their puppy or kitten."

· "Scream, run and fight if anyone tries to grab you or make you to go with them."

· "Don't play in areas that you are unfamiliar with."