With all due respect, Yes, we must try to prepare our children, but nothing will truly prepare them until something happens. No amount of talking will determine what they actually do when faced with an emergency. Because of that, I will wake up 30 minutes earlier to give my children a ride to school. If they grow up wishing they could have walked, at least I cared. For all the parents out there that can't for one reason or another, no judgements are cast. I know more than anyone sometimes there is no other alternative.

Of course -- in one ear and out the other! But if even 5 percent of what I say gets heard, it's better than not having talked at all.

I commented on your last blog about this as well and still feel the same. I absolutely think it is ok to let a child walk home, depending of course on their age and their maturity, which only a parent can determine. The parents of that child obviously instructed her what to do in a dangerous situation and she followed through and stood her ground. Of course, this could have ended in a horrific ordeal but we gladly it didnt. The same thing could happen to her at age 20 when she goes off to college. It is important that our children know the dangers that are out there and how to handle themselves. I say good job to the parents of that girl who taught her exactly what to do. She is truly brave and thank god she is ok.

Men who are dangerous are also "opportunist" if they have your child in their crosshairs, there isnt much your child is going to do about it, especially those children 7-13 years of age. You can talk to them until the cows come home, but a 200lb. predator vs. a 70 0r 80 lb. child is a no win, for the child. Parents must demand that these freaks quit being released back onto our streets to feed. The way it stands now, your judicial and corrections systems are more concerned with funding their payraises and under-producing agencies than protecting your kids and keeping the bad guys away from them. Make no mistake, you and your children have been thrown to the wolves, its come down to "us" against "them", and the bad guys are winning without your outrage.

To add on to your comment Valigator, and to turn the direction a little, we must look at how these cases are being handled once they are tried in the court system. The overworked SAO has so little time for each case, that guilty men go free. No one seems to care or listen, I wrote to Lauren Book, who is an advocate for sex offender restriction laws, after being abused herself. She did not respond. Why won't anyone listen and do something? I guess until it happens to you, it doesn't matter.