Situations like this is what got me started training my daughter in "awareness" when she was very young. She was always told to stay close, and anytime I would catch her trying to wonder off, I'd watch her and let her get far enough away to make the point, and then I would sneak up on her and grab her like I was going to take off with her. She would of course get upset with me, and then I'd tell her, aren't you glad it was just me? Then I would go on to explain to her why I did what I did, and what would happen if she wondered off and somebody meaning to do her harm got ahold of her. Long story short, two things happened... she learned the importance of not wondering off, and she became more aware and harder to sneak up on. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

It's important to be able to protect our family, but it's just as important to teach awareness to our children, because you can't always be there. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />