There are a host of issues that can be addressed under the topic of date safety. I want to address one way that parents can deal with a child who finds him/herself in a bad place, possibly already in trouble, with the possibility of even worse things to happen. This could be a son or a daughter who is faced with difficult choices. One lifeline you develop could be how you deal with your child in these types of situation.
When our children were growing up my wife and I had a sit down with our teenagers at the kitchen table. It should be noted our kids were good kids, for the most part, but they got in their share of trouble – some of it relatively serious. What we said was this. We know that you are going to get into trouble. You are going to find yourself at places you shouldn’t be and doing things you shouldn’t be doing. We love you very much and your safety means everything to us. Therefore, you can call us at any time, from anywhere, and we will come and get you with no questions asked. PERIOD.
It should be noted that all three of our children took us up on our offer. We kept our promise not to pry – but we usually found out, eventually, what was going on. The bottom line is that we were able to keep our children safe from some potentially dangerous situations. It built trust and fostered love between us. Our children still call us, on occasion, and we still pick them up with no questions asked. On occasion, they have returned the favor with no questions asked as it should be.
Gary Klugiewicz is employed by www.PoliceOne.com as a law enforcement consultant. He is nationally known as law enforcement defensive tactics trainer. Gary works with Dr. George Thompson from the Verbal Judo Institute. He can be contacted at gtklugiewicz@cs.com
