from the creeps of the world? Are you over protective? What things have you taught your kids to do if ever in the situation where a stranger talks to them, etc.?

I don't have any older children of my own, but do have a 9 year old step-daughter.
Between me & my OH, and her mother, she knows that she is never to go off with anyone she doesn't know, she knows that if a stranger tries talking to her that she should walk away. She knows how to call the emergency services. She has memorised her mothers & our addresses & phone numbers, and knows that if she gets lost, that she can phone the police. She also knows the basics about road safety, fire safety etc as they get taught this in school.

We have bascially tried to teach her enough stuff to keep her safe, but without making her afraid of everyone & everything - I think that can be unhealthy if kids are too scared of everything. In some ways, me & OH can be a bit over-protective........we are both Police officers, and so we see first hand the creeps that are out on the streets, but I would rather be over-protective than have something bad happen.

My eldest girl is 6 and is only a little older than Madeline McCann,
When madeline went missing my little girls was 4, my boy 3 and my youngest girl was 1,
I suppose it was because of all the press coverage etc but i kept seeing photos of that poor little girl and then looking at my kids and my heart stopped ... even as i type this just thinking that if maybe someone touched, hurt, scared one of my babies .. hell im crying.

My kids know that they go with know one other than a few people weve told them are ok .... even if someone has sweets ... if someone knows their name ... if someone says mums poorly and needs them to go with them they DONT GO NEAR ... they run and scream and shout.

Ive told them that know one will be cross if it was a misunderstanding .. people will be happy they they were brave anyway.

They know that if they were lost in a shop that only a lady working behind a till is safe to talk to and that they will help (i said only behind a till because kids sometimes get uniforms mixed up etc)

They know that police are ok if there in a police car or theres 2 of them walking together (just in case some monster dressed as a police person to get a kid)

If i could have my kids microchipped with a tracking device that they could remove when their older i would.

I hate going shopping to busy places (i live in the country so were not used to crowds) because it can be so easy to be separated from one of them and im not shy of kicking up a massive fuss if someone barges between me and one of my children!

Dont get me wrong ive had little chats with the kids but i dont go on and on about it.

They all know there's bad people and they have to be careful .... like they know that most dogs are ok but you never just go up to one in case!!

They dont live in fear and i try not to over crowd them but in this day an age i dont think you can be to careful

I don't have older kids either but i tell my eldest son of the 2 boys i have -- never ever talk to someone you don't know, and no matter what never get in a car with anyone you don't know even if they say mommy or daddy sent them to get you. I also tell him never take anything from strangers, never leave the play ground at school, never tell anyone where you live.. If someone grabs you - you must kick, scream, bite and make allot of noise. If you can call the police do it, he knows the number. Its so scary these days, that is why most of times my son stays indoors and we do activities together and he has play dates with friends and they play games on webkinz.com and they play nintendo, do puzzles and stuff. If we go outside we always stay close to each other and when he is at school there is always a teacher on the play ground. Oh and i also told that if he ever got lost in a store to always ask the person at the cash register. And if he lost outside just go to a store and ask them to use the phone, never a person's house... I would do anything to protect my children and i mean anything.

I am very over protective! Abbie is six and i won't let her in the garden by herself. She is very naive and only sees the good in people so she doesn't understand why she can't talk to strangers, it really worries me!

I've been wondering about this lately, my sons is 3 1/2 so i've been wondering what to tell him & when, Sometimes at the moment i feel i can tell him things & it sinks in & other times he just isn't for listening. When he settled at nursery i did tell him about nobody being allowed to touch his winky bits, I said if you have a poo they can clean your bum but if anybody touches your winky bits to tell mummy & tasha ( his fave nursery wrkr ) & amanda his key worker. I remind him every now & again or i'll say what do you do if someone touches your winky bits & he tells me straight so i know he understands that. I don't let him play in the front garden at all unless i'm sat there, When out & about he must hold my hand, always has to near roads & unless its quiet with nobody around in an open place , he is then allowed in front only but about 15 foot max before i tell him to wait. As yet i haven't told him about the stranger side as i think he is to young to understand. When i feel he will take that in i'll tell him.
I've told him we dont touch doggies we dont know whether owner says yes or not, we dont do it without mummy. If mummy says its ok, we dont touch til the dog is sat & we must be quiet & no shouting etc. I dont want him being scared of dogs at all, he was bitten by one few wks back & it was a JR so although he is a little worried he knows it was just that 1 doggy.

I'm constantly thinking of new dangers now & protective measures as hes getting older & new baby on way.