[Rocketwolf68]

He has a point about the family, but I'll put my two cents worth in- As a parent, you HAVE to tell children there are bad people and this is what they will do. Young girls are impressionable and easily swayed.If you shelter them and sing kumbaya or whatever and tell them everybody's a good person inside you end up with a situation like the Utah case. Kids have to know the facts of life- that there are killers out there. The other day I saw a 12-14 yr old girl standing in the roadway waving her arms at passing cars screaming- "give me a ride!" You have to wonder how more kids aren't abducted.

[beezdotcom]

He has a point about the family, but I'll put my two cents worth in- As a parent, you HAVE to tell children there are bad people and this is what they will do. Young girls are impressionable and easily swayed.If you shelter them and sing kumbaya or whatever and tell them everybody's a good person inside you end up with a situation like the Utah case.

Agreed, except for the last part. Do you really think Elizabeth Smart went with that nutjob because she thought he was a good person inside? Or, do you think it was because he threatened to hurt her sister unless she went with him, and she wasn't savvy enough to realize that she had more power over the situation than she thought?

THAT'S usually the lesson we fail to teach our kids. No matter what we do, we can't guarantee that a bad person is never going to reach our kids. We CAN try to teach them how to react when that happens.

[livinlife2thefullest]

I have two children-girls- and I have made VERY sure that they understand that very bad people exist in this world. I have also provided them with the proper training on what to do in case something ever happens to them.

I think the most startling thing about this case, though, is that this little girl was taken from her UNLOCKED home in the middle of the night. WHY in the world would you leave your house unlocked when you have something as precious as a child sleeping, in what she feels, is the most protected place in the world ? Call me obsessive, but I check all of my doors probably three times before I can sleep well at night. Even then, I am always in fear of something horrible happening, so I sleep very lightly.

I am not placing blame, but you have to wonder!