The Most Important Job

Most parents don't really think of being a parent as a "job". Yeah, yeah, it's not work - we do it because we love our kids, I know.

Maybe that is a problem though. Maybe we should think of it more like a job, we might recognize a few important points.

Many new parents are shocked with how much responsibility there is being a new parent, and they continue to be in awe of that for some time.

I would say that the ultimate responsibility you have to your child is keeping them safe and alive. Most of us take it for granted in our current society that we can keep our kids safe and alive.

I think many parents have these major problems when it comes to being able to be fully responsible for their child's safety:

1) Parents do NOT acknowledge the dangers they are aware of

2) Parents are not truly aware of all of the actual dangers in our society

3) Even if they are aware, and do acknowledge the dangers, parents don't want to appear fearful or paranoid to others.

In all of these three cases, the outcome is basically the same: Parents avoid talking about these issues with their children, their friends and neighbors, even their spouses!

Wrong, Wrong, Wrong!

I speak to many parents about registered sex offenders in their area, and child predators and pedophiles, and ways to educate their children about these issues.

However, many parents I talk to immediately put up their hand and say, "I don't want to talk to my little 4 year old girl about that because I don't want to scare her".

Wrong, Wrong, Wrong!

1) Her chances of actually getting abducted INCREASE if she is NOT taught how to handle these situations. I hate to be blunt, but You Think She's Scared Now - Just Think How Scared She'd Be If She's Taken!

2) Discussing this topic does NOT have to scare children. There are ways to do it properly, but that involves effort and learning on the part of the parent. In fact, most children kind of think of it as almost game-like.

Talk to your kids about these issues from an early age, in an age-appropriate manner. Talking to your kids about it, can literally save their life!

If I have convinced you that you should talk to them, then I have done my job!

The Child Shield USA program has some great tools to help parents accomplish that: Coloring books, posters, videos, etc.

Anyway you do it, make sure you do it. And if you don't have your own kids, discuss this with your family, friends, and neighbors who do have kids, and encourage them to do the talking.

These programs are worthless, mainly because of this FBI statistic: nearly 50% of child abductions result in death within the first couple of hours.

As a parent, YOU NEED TO PREVENT ABDUCTIONS AT ALL COSTS!

You can NOT rely only on methods that have no bearing on preventing an abduction, such as:

- Fingerprinting
- Child ID Photo Cards
- DNA samples
- GPS trackers

Do not be fooled, like so many parents are. They get a false sense of security because they are told these things will make their child more safe. They won't.

In fact, these are really only used for identifying a body, not for preventing the abduction in the first place!

Amber Alerts are a fine service, but less than 1% of missing children cases qualify for using the alert.

And besides, by the time it's activated, your little one has been traveling away from you at more than 1 mile every minute, probably sitting next to a big, hairy, stinky man who is telling her obscene and scary things.

Don't use a method that only reacts to an abduction. Use a system that prevents it from happening in the first place. PLEASE!