Keep kids safe, secure this summer

Summer vacation arrives for most kids next week, and as parents, our thoughts may drift in two different directions. The first thought may be: “What the heck are we going to do with them all summer?” And the second may be a nostalgic look back at the summers of our own youth, days when we would shout “so long” to our parents and head out into the neighborhood with just the words “be careful and be home at five for supper” lingering in the air behind us as the screen door slammed shut.

A typical day may have included a swim at a nearby quarry, a pick-up baseball game on someone’s lawn, a wade in a stream on the other side of the railroad tracks, or even a makeshift seance in the attic of an abandoned neighborhood house.

How did we survive?

As a parent of a 9-year-old and 13-year-old, I hope for them the relaxed carefree and endless summer days of my youth, but in reality, those days are long gone.

There are camps to attend in which they must hone their athletic, theatrical and academic skills. There is the ever-present pull of 72 or more television channels, PlayStations, Game Boys and the Internet.

There are easy ways as a parent to restrict the TV and the Internet, and you can certainly limit the number of camps a child can go to. But can you safely send them out into the neighborhood to explore for the day?

I guess my answer arrived in the headlines this week, with the alleged attempted abduction of an 8-year-old girl from the Waterville Wal-Mart by an accused sex offender. Two days later, a 9-year-old girl allegedly was offered cash if she would get into the car with another sex offender who ran into her on the street in Lisbon Falls.

That’s two attempted “stranger abductions” of young kids by sex offenders in two days. That’s a wake-up call.

Thankfully, both attempts were foiled by the quick actions of those around them.

When your children are 2 and 5 years old, the issue of their safety is a bit easier. They must hold your hand when they cross the street, and they are often sitting in the shopping cart as you browse. But what about when they are older and no longer are interested in holding your hand? What about when they are 10 and want to go look in the toy department two aisles over while you shop?

When are they old enough to walk alone to a friend’s home three blocks away?

I think the most frightening part of the attempted Wal-Mart abduction was that the little girl went so willingly with her alleged abductor. Bruce Smith and Eric Caouette of Norridgewock had heard that a girl was missing in the store and that she had red hair and was wearing a pink raincoat. When they walked out of the store with their newly purchased fishing gear, they spotted her right away. She and Richard Decca, who had just been released on bail for sexually abusing a 1-year-old girl, were walking casually toward his car.

According to Smith and Caouette, Decca had told the girl he would help her find her mom.

My 9-year-old, red-headed son always asks if he can bolt off to the toy department or the electronics department while I shop. He promises to stay within two aisles and not talk to any strangers.

I’ve let him do it.

As I said earlier, I think those days are long gone.

On the Web site of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, it states that children between the ages of 10 and 17 are equally as vulnerable to abduction as younger children.

I would like to think my children would shout and kick and know what to do should a stranger try to lure them away. We’ve talked about the “my-puppy-is-lost-can-you-help-me-find-him?” trick that some sexual predators have been known to use. We’ve talked about yelling and kicking and shouting that “this is not my father.”

These two recent abduction attempts are another opportunity to talk to your kids – no matter their age.

I wasn’t in the Wal-Mart parking lot on that rainy Saturday afternoon, but I have the clearest vision of that 8-year-old, red-head girl in the pink raincoat walking hand in hand with Richard Decca.

The image is burned into my head. As my household drifts our way into summer, I hope the thought of that little girl, whose name we don’t know, will serve us all well.