Comments on: The Experiment

By: Ann G

Ann G — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 20:45:51 +0000

I need to do something like this with my soon to be 4 year old. I haven’t done it yet, though. I guess I’m just a little afraid that his “never knows a stranger” personality will cause us to both be in danger. Maybe I will do it sometime when we go somewhere it isn’t crowded, although finding a place like that here in dfw is difficult this time of year.
Good job mom for teaching your son a lesson he’ll not soon forget.

By: Harp

Harp — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 19:36:16 +0000

When I was 5, I walked away from my mom to look at a toy around the corner. Naturally things did not progress well. I went back to to car and locked myself in, thinking that mom would have to get in the car to come home. An hour later, my hysterical mother is making her way unsteadily toward the car and spots me. I imagine her relief was a life changing experience. My response? “Hi mom, why are you crying? I just waited for you here.”

Male insensitivity is apparently an inborn trait.

Harp

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 13:31:39 +0000

This reminds me of the story my mother-in-law told about my husband as a little guy. He was always taking off in stores, etc. So his grandma told my MIL to let him go and follow at a distance to teach him this lesson. The two of them followed him the length of the mall; he never became frightened. Too interested in exploring, we surmise, and a sense of independence and confidence from an early age.

My daughter is a self-confident explorer too, but once she hit 4 and now 5, she gained a healthy sense of caution about getting too far from us in public (thank goodness). She also has, um, quite healthy lungs, so I’ve told her to yell for us if we gets separated. As loud as she can get when she has a tiff with a friend, I think she can manage the volume necessary to scream when she really needs to.

By: Little Acorns

Little Acorns — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 19:02:44 +0000

I am so proud of you for doing this and writing about it. A few weeks ago I saw a story about a mom in Wal-Mart whose child was molested only a few rounders away in the clothing section. He was a previous sex offender (violent, I believe), of course, and out looking for more victims. He told the child that he was store security and that he had to check her pockets.

Another thing I’ve had to talk to my children about is people who take pictures. Anyone who does not have a child with them and tries to take a picture of my child has a confrontation with me. I’ve only had to do this twice: once with a “grandfather” (no kids with him) at the park and once with a “photographer” at another park with a play fountain. Both tried to take pictures of my children.

There are some really sick people out there; I think people just don’t even realize how many sex offenders are walking around looking for opportunities. Anyway, thanks for talking about this.

By: Sarbear

Sarbear — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 18:35:12 +0000

I’ve tried that experiment with my 3 1/2 year old. Except with him it’s like .. “Great now I can do what I want!” No look of worries from him. Maybe he needs to be a bit older to understand the lost concept.

By: Quirky

Quirky — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 14:56:08 +0000

We had to keep one hand on the cart when we were little. Kind of like tag. It was “home base” and if your tiny fingers left it just for a moment to look at something else, Mom would “tag” you. Only in this case, being tagged wasn’t a good thing.

When we got older, you could stop touching the cart, but you had to always be able to see it.

By: Howdy

Howdy — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 14:07:43 +0000

In an age when kids were dropped off in the toy isle and you didn’t worry about your child ending up on a milk carton – my mom use to whistle when she wanted us to come to her. My 40 somthing brother was quite annoyed several years ago when he took Mom to a store and realized she was whistling for him when he had gone off to find his own stuff. LOL

I taught my kids to stop and call out LOUDLY to me if we got lost from each other and we practiced that call at home. Children are so often too meek to be loud when they need to be. That practice comes in handy too when they need to fend off bullys at school as well. A really LOUD ‘STOP BOTHERING ME’ gets attention from others when a bully would like you to quietly take it.

Good work AM… he did very well.

By: Angeline

Angeline — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 04:06:59 +0000

good training A.M., kids learn the best and fastest in before they turn 6 years old.

so whatever good habits, good manners, good behaviour, get it in Sean’s head before he turns 6.

that’s exactly what I’m doing now for my boys too.

By: Nancy - The Unlikely Homesteader

Nancy - The Unlikely Homesteader — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 01:03:06 +0000

Reminds me of when we took our first little guy (3) on vacation. We REALLY drilled him well on stranger danger. So well that when this sweet little man stopped by in a store to comment on his pretty red hair (with us standing right there holding his hand), he started screaming at the top of his lungs – “Stranger, Stranger!!!”

By: Nicki

Nicki — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 20:50:40 +0000

I lost my two year old in Nordstrom once. He was lightening fast and I didn’t have his stroller with me. I told the Nordy’s people that my little guy was missing and they called the troops…literally. After maybe 30 seconds about 15 people came down the escalator all at once and fanned the store. They found him next door at a hair salon flirting with a hairstylist. I’ve never burst into tears like that in front of strangers, and I’ve never gone shopping without a stroller again!