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 My son and two of his friends were at the Duluth Heights community club on Friday around 4:30/5 playing football. There was a man who had parked across the street in the parking lot and was walking around for a while watching them. After watching them for a while, he approached the boys asking for their numbers and asking them to take his number. He was asking my son where he went to school and what grade the boys were in. As they left to get to their bikes to get away from this man, he was trying to get them to stay. He then rushed to his truck and followed them until they turned down the road to one of the boy's homes.

Probably one of the scariest things you want to hear from your kids. This is why you want to have that talk with them and tell them what to do in that situation. The kids did the right thing so that is a huge kudos to Mom for teaching them what to do when things don't feel right.

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So, I reached out to the Duluth Police, and Lynn Rosandich, the Executive Assistant to the Chief, gave me some great tips to share. She said we all tell our kids about "Stranger Danger" but some kids either aren't old enough to understand or don't know who a stranger is because the strangers are getting better at fooling our kids. So she gave me 4 rules of safety:

  • Check first with an adult before going anywhere
  • Take a friend when going somewhere
  • Tell people “no” if they try to touch or hurt you
  • Tell a trusted adult if anyone makes you feel sad, scared, or confused

There is a website called Kid Smartz that gives parents really good tips and how to educate their children. A couple of tips I saw that were good.

  1. Find out where your kids hang out go there with them and scout out safe places to go if they need a quick escape.
  2. Learn the tricks that abductors use and tell them to your kids so they can spot them.
  3. Stay with your group of friends, when a child gets singled out they are more vulnerable.
  4. Tell an adult if there is something that happened or they felt unsafe with an encounter.

The more they know, the better they can deal with the situation. Thank you to the Duluth Police Department.

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