Re-Certification in Stranger Danger

I'm angry. I'm angry at the nasty creep who pulled into our parking lot yesterday afternoon and tried to lure our 9 yr old neighbor girl into his car with a cookie. She knew just what to do, which was run like hell to tell her mom. She also noted the man's description with remarkable detail and could describe the car to the police office who arrived on the scene. When I found out what happened, I wanted to throw up. I love that girl like crazy, and if something had happened to her...it was just too close of a call and really hard to shake off.

She and Tanner play outside together all the time. They also play outside by themselves a lot. We let them. It makes me a little nervous, but I also refuse to keep him indoors - it's just not fair to him. I had a childhood where I was free to roam the entire neighborhood for hours and never had to give a thought to Stranger Danger. I don't think my parents worried a bit - they didn't have to. I so wish for that same experience with Tanner, but in 2010 in a major city, he is clearly not going to have that. When that disgusting man decided to pull into our parking lot, and target our children, he stole from us the tenuous feeling of security that we had when we let our kids go out and play.

We think he's been watching the kids, and knew when A was usually outside by herself. The thought of that sends chills through my body. Just to think that some creep may have been watching my little boy play makes me want to lock T in our house and never let him out again.

But I can't do that. I can't live in fear - it's not my nature. Nor do I want Tanner to live in fear. So instead, we just had a very serious sit-down about what happened. When A's mom called to tell me about it, I wondered what Tanner would have done in that situation. I hope he would react as A did, but part of me thinks he would've been like: "Sweet! I'll take a cookie! My mom never lets me have anything."

I know he's been taught Stranger Danger, but I wanted him re-certified, and with a real-life situation in front of us, I think he got the message.  I told him what happened, and I told him what could've happened had it gone differently. I didn't want to scare him, but I did want him to understand the seriousness of it and to be hyperaware of what's going on around him when he's playing outside. Hyper-awareness is not a gift of my son. Obliviousness, however, he does very well, and it makes me nervous.

We moms decided that, for awhile at least, the kids will not be allowed to play outside alone. We feel that together, they are safer. Tanner fussed when I told him the new rule, but not much. I think he understood why we made the rule. I'm just so mad that we have to do it. I'm so mad that there is so much evil in the world, and that we can't keep our kids away from it, no matter how hard we try. I'm mad that my son has to learn about kidnappers and child molesters because he had one in his front yard.

It makes me sick.