This morning I was driving the girls to my parents house (where they spend their summers swimming, singing karaoke, and eating fluffernutters) and Maddie asked me if I remembered a video that I had showed her. I wasn't sure which video she was referring to and assumed it was the one that we watched last night about teaching your kids to ride a bike (more on that topic later). It was not. She said it was a video about a little girl in a toy store. I finally realized that she was referring to a surveillance video that was on the news probably about a year ago of a little girl in Walmart in the toy section. A man ran up and grabbed the little girl and started to run away with her. The little girl scratched, kicked, and screamed until the man finally just let her go. I wasn't sure why she was thinking about this but I figured this was a good time to review the rules about strangers. I explained that you should never talk to strangers without Mommy or Daddy there. One of my big concerns with Maddie is her love of animals. I told her that she should never go with anyone even if they are asking her if she'd like to see their puppy or help them find an animal. I finished up with a big speech about how if anyone ever grabbed them they should kick and scream and NEVER let anyone put you into a car.
Maddie didn't hesitate and responded with "Oh don't worry - I have LOTS of ideas about what to do. I'm kinda excited about it actually". So strangers - you've been warned!
