“How to Spot a Predator” — Really? « FreeRangeKids

08/05/2012 22:22

Excerpts below -the full article can be read from the link above

Had to repost this piece from Lenore Skenazy at Free Range Kids.

It reminds me that in this global internet age there appears to be nothing more dangerous than someone with very little factual knowledge and computer access. It seems it’s more than true these days that ‘a lie will go round the world while truth is pulling its boots on’. [1859 C. H. Spurgeon Gems from Spurgeon 74].

If you have time, read the comments below the article, it seems that in relation to fearful ignorance – one size fits all.

” Hi Readers — Still trying to figure out what part of this Circle of Moms post, “How to Spot a Child Predator” irks me the most. It’s by a lady who was at a cafe and heard a man asking two third grade boys questions like, “What’s your favorite subject?” and “Who do you want to marry when you grow up?” He also asked them some math problems, so the lady immediately “understood” what she was hearing:

…like a thunderbolt, it hits me! Those boys are being groomed.

How exactly did she know he was up to no good? She trusted her gut. And now she wants the rest of us to trust it, too:

I wrote this so you’d read about the types of questions a potential predator uses so you can prepare your kids.

Please don’t scare your kids, but do talk to them. Use these, or examples like the, so your kids know what bad strangers ask .

…Except that there is no evidence whatsoever that this was a “bad stranger,” or that these are the type of questions a bad stranger would ask! It’s like saying, “I would have been raped by the man in the grocery store today if I hadn’t realized what he was up to! So I’m alerting the rest of you: If a man ever asks, ‘Do you know what aisle the paper towels are in?’ RUN! He is a bad stranger. Don’t thank me — I’m just trying to help!”

Uh…thanks. But no thanks. – L.

How can you tell if a man is a predator? Easy! If he’s male and nice to kids — he is!”