[GiantRutgersfan]

Wow I am shocked so many people would not let their kids walk home from school or even play outside. How ridiculous. Not letting your kids play outside is just plain paranoid.

You cant live your life in fear.

[subwife1010]

I am taking a child safety class right now, and the quotas actually go like this:

750,000 kids per year are reported missing
1:3 kids are attacked before the age of 18 (not always abducted obviously)
1:42 Children will become a missing child

so, as a mother of a 5 year old...no way!

[Starlady01]

You hear more and get better results in Florida that is why you hear of it more in Florida thanks to John Walsh.

John Walsh has led the way in Florida on Child abductions and we have a pretty fast response team here and it hits the news petty fast here also because of his dedication since he lost his son. Most place have the Code Adam system when a child is reported missing in a store. I have walked thu walmart myself and heard a Code Adam Florida doesn't just sit around and see what happens they react and I mean they react fast.

[bamajely]

I lived in Tampa for 30 years before moving to Alabama. When I was growing up in Tampa, it was much different then it is today. The neighborhood kids use to get together and go out on and trick and treat together, we also went out and sang Christmas carols too. My kids never walked home from school by themselves. MY DH or I would pick them up. By the time my oldest ( who will be 20yrs old next month) went to jr high the gangs where already starting to come in. I decided to move and try to give my kids a life like I had.
Grant, I live in a small where the school bus picks up the kids in front of your house and the bus carries the kids from elementary to high school. Plus everyone here knows everyone. So they know who your child is and we watch out for each others kids too.
That is just my experience.

[StreetSmarts]

Originally Posted by Starlady01

You hear more and get better results in Florida that is why you hear of it more in Florida thanks to John Walsh.

John Walsh has led the way in Florida on Child abductions and we have a pretty fast response team here and it hits the news petty fast here also because of his dedication since he lost his son. Most place have the Code Adam system when a child is reported missing in a store. I have walked thu walmart myself and heard a Code Adam Florida doesn't just sit around and see what happens they react and I mean they react fast.

I bet the state of Washington has a good system in place. John Walsh moved away from FL a long time ago. He moved to WA and I bet he is doing good things there, as well as around the country.

[mango23]

Originally Posted by GiantRutgersfan

Wow I am shocked so many people would not let their kids walk home from school or even play outside. How ridiculous. Not letting your kids play outside is just plain paranoid.

You cant live your life in fear.

There is an old joke that says,

"Even if you are paranoid it doesn't mean someone isn't out to get you".

Most abductions are not bad luck any more then a hitchhiker being kidnapped. If you put them out there, no rules or precautions go ahead. Want to serve your kids up to a child molester on a silver platter, be my guest. But don't try to justify your own foolishness by saying others are paranoid. Actually, I think you are trying to justify your own laziness to go the extra step to keep them safe. You just don't want to do it because it may be inconvenient to you, it has nothing to do with wanting to give kids freedom.
By the way, walking to and from school is the most dangerous walk your kids will take. Far more then walking to the store or a friends house. Just like a fisherman goes where he knows the fish are, child stalkers will stake areas around schools at the time kids are coming and going. It is no accident they are there, that is where the kids are.

[beachmouse]

Originally Posted by subwife1010

I am taking a child safety class right now, and the quotas actually go like this:

750,000 kids per year are reported missing
1:3 kids are attacked before the age of 18 (not always abducted obviously)
1:42 Children will become a missing child

Where did they get those numbers from and how do they relate to actual danger from strangers? Every actual federal government-verified number I've seen put the number of abductions by strangers by fewer than 200 per year.

[Mike1306]

Originally Posted by beachmouse

Where did they get those numbers from and how do they relate to actual danger from strangers? Every actual federal government-verified number I've seen put the number of abductions by strangers by fewer than 200 per year.

Of the 700,000 or so more than half are runaways, 200,000 or so are family abductions usually in custody disputes but there are still over 50,000 non family abductions per uear.

[beachmouse]

Found a citation for that:

Nation & World | Lack of data on child abductions deplored | Seattle Times Newspaper

That report estimated that 58,200 children annually are victims of non-family abductions, with the vast majority held briefly for any number of reasons — a dispute between girlfriend and boyfriend, for instance — and returned safely, often without the filing of a police report.
The report estimated that there were 115 cases in 1999 of "stereotypical kidnappings" — in which children were taken by non-family members for long periods, put up for ransom or killed by their abductors. In 40 percent of these cases, the child was killed.

[GiantRutgersfan]

Exactly. No one wants to kidnap your kid... who wants that pain in the butt...


Seriously though, statistics show that person on person crime is way down from the 1950s and 1960s. (Not talking about things like drugs and other nonviolent crimes).

Your kids are safer nowadays then they were way back then.

if your one of those parents who doesnt allow them any independence, they are gonna be the kid who gets to college, spends all his money on drugs, rarely goes to class, and flunks out after freshman year....