RESIDENT SPEAK: Tips to secure children from abduction threat

Many of us have heard or read about the failed attempt of child abduction in Greater Noida recently where a girl saved herself from being kidnapped with her presence of mind and arrived home safely. 

Here I would like to give parents a few tips to ward off such incidents.

• As a parent keep a detailed description of your child handy. Have a close-up photograph of your child taken every six months. Keep track of and write down details about his/her appearance, such as height and weight, colour of eyes, birthmarks, scars, etc.

• Teach children to stay away from strangers. Explain what makes a person a stranger. Tell them that even someone with a familiar face is a stranger if they do not know him/her well.

• Teach your kid that an adult does not need help. So, if any adult asks for directions or help, avoid such stranger and go your way. However, aged/disabled persons are an exception.

• Teach your young kids about good and bad touch. A child at age 4 starts understanding the distinction.

• Tell the children to seek help in any eventuality. Ask them to run away screaming in case someone tries to force them to accompany him to somewhere.

• Make them memorise a secret code word. Tell them not to go with anyone under any circumstances unless that person also knows the code word

• Teach them to ask for help when they are lost. If they get lost in a public place (mall, station etc.), immediately ask someone who works there, especially one in a uniform, for help. 

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article above are his own and CitySpidey does not endorse them in anyway.