There are stories of missing children in the news every now and then. The worst thing is that kids do not always return home … But not all children know how to behave with strangers. Not everyone can even scream when they are being dragged somewhere: Mom and Dad did not teach this. How to protect a child from possible (unfortunately) danger?
Social activists regularly conduct experiments: they check how a child reacts to a meeting with a complete stranger who calls him somewhere. The statistics are terrifying: out of several dozen participants in the experiment, only a few call for help. The rest obediently take the “uncle” by the hand and follow. But all parents, without exception, are sure that their children will stay where they are.
Moreover, most children do not know their parents’ phones by heart. They do not know that in case of danger, you need to attract attention to yourself with any available
And one more terrible statistical fact: the peak of the loss of children occurs in the spring.
The search and rescue team “Liza Alert” has been working in our country for several years already. The detachment’s volunteers are looking for missing people – everyone, not just children. There is also a prevention group in the detachment. Volunteers conduct free classes for children and parents: they teach both those and others how to behave with strangers, what to do if a person offers to “go see the kittens.” Yes, you will not believe, but children buy into such offers.
The volunteers of the prevention group of the search and rescue squad “Lisa Alert” told Woman’s Day about the important rules of behavior that can save lives.
1. Teach your child to say no to strangers. Let him say, “Sorry, but my mother won’t let me talk to strangers.”
2. Explain that adults do not ask a child for help. If something really happened to them, they will ask an adult.
3. Teach your child to scream! Oddly enough, children are bothered to do this. A child should scream if he is lost, including in the city, and if someone tries to grab him or shows aggression. Arrange for this training in the forest and then be sure to try to do it in the city.
4. Explain to your child that outwardly it is impossible to distinguish a “good” person from a “bad” one. Therefore, even a young girl may turn out to be bad.
5. Explain to your child that if someone tries to force him to do something by threatening him with anything, including killing his parents, he should immediately tell you about it.
6. Explain to your child that if someone else meets him after school or a circle, and you did not warn him, he must call you and clarify. He should do the same if one of the distant relatives wants to give him a lift. Unfortunately, friends and relatives sometimes quarrel seriously and may even use a child as a means of resolving a conflict.
7. The phone number of the child (and elderly parents) must be registered to you. The mobile operator issues printouts of his calls only to the one to whom the phone is registered.
8. Use modern gadgets and programs in order to protect your children and elderly relatives. You can install programs in smartphones – GPS locators of your family members.
9. Take pictures of the child more often. If you have an up-to-date photo of the child in the clothes you saw him in before disappearing, this will make it easier to find.
10. Make it a habit to call each other when you leave and when you return. Adults should show this by example. For example, call each other in the evening when you leave work. This healthy habit can sometimes be life-saving.
11. Do not forbid the child to start his own page on the social network, if he asks about it, so that he does not make himself a secret account. On the contrary, sit down together, create a page together, surf the net. Teach your child the rules of safety on the Internet: do not post your photos and contacts in the public domain, do not respond to “attractive” offers from strangers, remember that he never knows who a stranger is. Explain what the dangers are. From time to time, look through the list of your child’s “friends”, pay attention to adults, if they are not teachers, see which groups he reads and which publics he is subscribed to. On the Internet, a lot of attractively presented information about drugs, suicide and other things will fall on the child. And yes, “whale groups” do exist and do pose a threat to the child. Explain to the child the pointlessness of participating in this and that there are adults behind it who are looking for controlled children for their goals.
We often see in the movies that the police are in no hurry to start searching for the missing until three days have passed. So, there is no “three-day rule”. Call 112 immediately or contact the nearest police station. If the department suddenly refuses to take the application, dial 112 and inform the operator about it, indicating the department number.
Lisa Alert’s 8-hour telephone number: 800-700-54-52-XNUMX.