And speaking of abductions...

It's very scary to even consider how easily children can be lured by an abductor. Although I have spoken to all of my children at great length about 'strangers', I am afraid my two youngest would easily fall prey to a predator like this. My eldest (who's now an adult) has always been very head strong & very mature, I doubt he'd ever have fallen for something like this. But my daughter & youngest son are both just very gentle, eager to please & a bit naive. My daughter is now 14, and I want to believe at her age she'd be more aware & cautious. My youngest though is 5 and I think he'd still fall for something like that. As parents we just have to keep revisiting the topic often, and be ever vigilant keeping an eye on our children.

Even though my kids are older and boys, I made sure they knew about things like this and what to do about them. I had them think "Why would a grown up ask a kid for ...(directions, help, etc)" If you are being chased and there are cars around, try to flip the door handles as you run past. It could set off the car alarm. If you are put in a car trunk, pull out the rear light and stick your hand out the hole. It's sad, but this is what the world is coming to. Kids have to be scared of everyone they don't know.

I have no idea, but sometimes the desire to help conflicts with a person's common sense, especially if that person is a little girl whose parents have told her that she has to prove herself to be a good little girl and good little girls help strangers. The other little girls's parents probably also told them to help others, but the emphasis on being careful of strangers and possibly a scary story or two about evil people may have kept them from harm. And possibly the reason the other little girls did not tell was because they thought the stranger was a good man and not a kidnapper. Anyway parents have to tell their kids that even if a stranger meant no harm, he would have asked them to get their parents.

I am hoping my son is. I am teaching him however he is very friendly (sometimes too friendly to kids) but shys away when spoken to by adults. I know I could be doing more and hope that if he was ever approached that he would not fall for a stunt like this. How old were the girls?

Excellent topic. A news show covered it years ago. With a hidden camera, they tried in many ways to get kids to go into a van with them. Most worked. One was that they had a sick kitten. The parents all said afterwards that they taught their kids not to go away with strangers. There's a program most police have - they finger print kids. I have a kit for it. A little brochure you can put picture of the child, info and even fingerprint the child at home. Great thing to be able to give to the law enforcement agency. Kids may be taught one thing - and if asked say they would never go away with a stranger, but unfortunately as this story from Montreal reveals, as well as this news program I spoke of. So I gather the girl who was taken was with the other girls? That's how authorities know for sure the circumstances?

My kids have known from a very young age. We live in Florida and there are way too many child abductions here every year. My oldest two actually rode the same bus as a boy who was abducted and killed, so they knew from kindergarten age. Recently children have been abducted right from their beds! No way that can happen here: they have to get past 5 dogs putting up a ruckus and that won't happen. We just have a 12 1/2 year old left at home. Now it's worry about the grandkids time and there;s lots less I can do to protect them because they don't live close by...so I worry a lot.