Teach children how to prevent and deal with kidnappers

The kidnapping happened in Viet Hung ward, Long Bien district, Hanoi. The 7-year-old boy was cycling around the inner-city road of the row of villas. When he stopped the bike, a Kia Morning car stopped next to him. The driver - a man wearing a mask - asked a few questions and then got out, picked up the boy and drove away. The kidnapper demanded that the boy's family pay 17 billion VND in ransom. The police chased the kidnapper all night in many localities and at 5:00 a.m. on August 15, they arrested the man.

This case has left parents with young children fearful and worried. Parents are increasingly aware of how important it is to teach their children how to prevent kidnapping and how to respond when they find themselves in such a situation. Here are some skills you can teach your children.

Kidnapping prevention skills

Tell your child the following.

Don't talk to strangers

This is also the first and most important kidnapping prevention skill, the purpose is to prevent contact between the child and the kidnapper. Tell your child that if a stranger approaches and tries to talk to them when they are alone, they should immediately run to find their parents or go to a crowded place to find trustworthy people such as store employees, building security, police or passersby to ask for help.

Do not accept gifts from strangers

To lure a child to follow them, kidnappers often use gifts such as toys and food to attract children, then promise to give them bigger, more desirable gifts if the child follows them. After luring the child to a deserted place, they will carry out the kidnapping. Therefore, parents should teach their children to absolutely not accept gifts from strangers, telling them that any gift given by strangers when parents or relatives are not around is for bad purposes.

Keep a distance of 3m from strangers

To avoid situations where kidnappers use anesthetics or "hypnosis" - methods that can only be applied at close range, making children unable to resist even though they know it is a bad person, parents need to tell their children to keep a distance from strangers, preferably about 3 meters. If a stranger tries to get close, run quickly to a crowded place to seek help.

Many kidnappers, when they cannot persuade children, turn to appeal to their kindness, such as asking them to carry things for them or showing them the way so that the children will follow them. Help your child remember that when a stranger asks them to do these things, they should tactfully refuse; they can find another adult to help if they really need help, and never follow a stranger.

Do not let strangers into the house

This is a basic kidnapping prevention skill that every child should know. When adults are away, many kidnappers pretend to be family acquaintances, repairmen, service collectors, etc. to lure children into opening the door. Therefore, you need to tell children that if they are home alone, they should never approach, talk to, or open the door for strangers. When someone outside calls, stand at a distance and speak loudly. If the bad guys try to find a way to get into the house, children need to shout and immediately call 113 to report to the police, then call their parents.

Don't "chat" with strangers

Many children are exposed to the internet early and are lured by bad guys through this channel. Children can make friends online with bad guys without knowing it. They often take advantage of the information children post online to cleverly approach, get acquainted and then lure them to meet in person. Therefore, it is best for parents to limit their children's use of electronic devices, young children should not open social networking accounts, older children, if allowed to use social networking, also need to be controlled and not post personal information publicly, not make friends or chat with strangers.

Remember your parents' phone number

Parents' phone numbers help children call for help when they are lost or being approached by bad guys. This is a number that children must learn by heart.

Wear a watch with a GPS

A smart watch with a location feature will help parents and authorities determine the child's location until the bad guys discover and disable it. You can buy your child a watch with an unobtrusive design so that it is less likely to attract bad guys' attention.

Teaching children how to deal with kidnappers

In case your child feels that the person approaching him is a bad person, intending to kidnap him, your child needs to deal with it in the following ways.

Scream

Parents should tell their children that in a dangerous situation when a bad guy is approaching or being dragged away, or being staged to be kidnapped publicly, they should scream loudly to attract the attention of passersby. Sometimes the kidnapper pretends to be a relative to drag or carry the child away, making outsiders hesitant to intervene. In this case, the child needs to scream loudly to make it clear that it is not their father, mother or grandparents, forcing the bad guy to be afraid and outsiders to intervene.

Physical resistance

In addition to screaming for help, children should also fight back physically by scratching, biting, and kicking. Many kidnappers let go of their victims because of the pain of the bite, giving the child a chance to run away.

In addition, this resistance and attack is also a message to the people around that suspect that the person is not the child's relative and is committing the act of kidnapping, they will pay attention and intervene. The kidnapper often lets go of the child when bitten or kicked, not because it hurts too much, but because he knows he has attracted attention, so he gives up.

According to VTC