Hip Hop Horsey says, page 1

Hip Hop Horsey says "Don't take candy from strangers"

Stranger Danger programs have been taught for decades. Still, all the evidence shows that children go willingly with strangers. Why? Because children don't hear what adults think they are saying.

Hip Hop Horsey says "WHO ARE STRANGER OFFENDERS?"

Stranger offenders (hereafter called offenders) are people who abduct and/or abuse children they don't know. They do not seek a relationship with the child, as do abusers who know the child. Instead, they see children as objects for their use. They view children as weak, helpless, defenseless victims who can easily be manipulated to fulfill the offenders' needs.

These offenders range from the passive exhibitionist to the sadistic murderer. Bribery, flattery, treats and requests for help are common tricks they use to engage children. While some strangers will actually snatch a child away, this rarely happens. Most children are lured into a seemingly innocent situation with someone who acts like a "nice" person.

Of particular concern are those pedophiles who "hang out" in places where they have access to children, fast food restaurants, arcades, malls, movies, mini-markets, etc. These offenders will engage a child, molest them in the bathroom or other readily available area and then release the child. These perpetrators tend to prefer boys and report molesting hundreds of children in this manner.

Because there is no way to anticipate who these offenders are or what they will do, the best defense is to keep unsupervised children away from strangers. This is first and foremost the responsibility of parents and other responsible adults. But children also need to be educated, to learn rules that will reduce their risk when adult efforts to protect them fail.

THE Hip Hop Horsey's POINT OF VIEW

Strangers have been the focus of so much of our concern for our children's safety that most children have a pretty distorted sense of who and what strangers are. What we've said about strangers makes sense to us, but doesn't usually make sense to them.

Children believe that the world is divided into two types of people: good guys and bad guys. We've traditionally taught them that the ones they need to worry about and watch out for are the bad guys. (Don't take candy from strangers; beware of strangers; stranger danger.) Of course, this is as impossible for children as it is for adults.

Teaching children to be afraid of strangers not only doesn't work very well, it is frightening. When we say things like, "Don't talk to strangers or get in their car because they might take you away and we'd never see you again." we scare children without protecting them.