The importance of teaching kids about 'stranger danger'

THE abduction and rape of two little girls attending a birthday party in Athlone didn’t just send shock waves across the country last year — it graphically highlighted the challenge parents face in trying to warn young children about stranger danger.

Aged six and nine, the girls were outside the house at which the birthday party was taking place when they were asked by a man they didn’t know to accompany him to a nearby building.

After being lured inside, they were detained and assaulted. It was a nightmarish case which exposed one of the deepest fears of mums and dads – that no matter how hard they try to make them understand, parents may not be getting through to their kids about ‘stranger-danger’.