Ronni
Well-known Member
- Location
- Nashville TN
When my kids were growing up, before cell phones and the technology we have today, One of the things I did to protect my kids from was to have a family code word, a word that I would give to someone that my kids would recognize should there ever be a need for someone other than me to pick them up from somewhere.
If the person (even if it was someone known to them) didn’t use the code word, then they were NOT to go with them. My trusted family members had it, and a couple of very close friends did, but no-one else.
Back then there wasn’t sign in or other protocols to protect kids they way they’re protected today so It was incumbent on me to keep them safe.
It paid off too. My son was approached in a mall when he was a pre-teen (I’d drop him and his friends off for an hour or two and then pick them up…it was called Mall-Ratting/being a Mall Rat
) by a man claiming to be a good friend of mine and that I’d been in an accident and he’d been sent to get me and bring me to the hospital. My son started to go with him too, then remembered and said “what’s the code word?” He told me later he felt kind of silly asking, but when the man looked confused and didn’t answer, my son took off running, his friends confused but following him.
He called me from a pay phone, told me what happened, and I told him to go straight to mall security and tell them what happened and ask to be taken to the security office and I’d come get him from there.
One of the scariest times of my life!
If the person (even if it was someone known to them) didn’t use the code word, then they were NOT to go with them. My trusted family members had it, and a couple of very close friends did, but no-one else.
Back then there wasn’t sign in or other protocols to protect kids they way they’re protected today so It was incumbent on me to keep them safe.
It paid off too. My son was approached in a mall when he was a pre-teen (I’d drop him and his friends off for an hour or two and then pick them up…it was called Mall-Ratting/being a Mall Rat
) by a man claiming to be a good friend of mine and that I’d been in an accident and he’d been sent to get me and bring me to the hospital. My son started to go with him too, then remembered and said “what’s the code word?” He told me later he felt kind of silly asking, but when the man looked confused and didn’t answer, my son took off running, his friends confused but following him.He called me from a pay phone, told me what happened, and I told him to go straight to mall security and tell them what happened and ask to be taken to the security office and I’d come get him from there.
One of the scariest times of my life!
