I don't have any answers. I just want to thank you for raising the topic in this way, and I look forward to the replies you elicit. I think you've voiced concerns that we all have, and find it diffiicult to come up with answers.

Basically you have to raise them to be smart !!! thinking not just sweet and obedient

What you are doing right now is instilling fear based on YOUR paranoia !!!

Only a fraction of which is legit

Ever see those videos after the crime of children WALKING away hand in hand with their abductors .... just walking away not being dragged kicked or pushed into a car ... why is that ?

Partly because we have taught kids at least our generation was taught blind obedience to adults .... you gotta teach your kid to use his gut instincts ... if he does not feel comfortable around someone even if they are family ... he should express himself ... if someone tries to grab him he needs to kick and scream and make a scene ...

although lucky for him ,his gender might not be as high a risk .... stats wise that is .....instead of looking at things from the victim perspective trying looking at them from an abductor perspective why do certain kids get kidnapped in the first place ?

My mamma tole me that if someone tried to grab me I should kick em in the weenie and run like heck !!!!

But the opportunity never came .....

Be alert and interact with people not be afraid of them just don't follow them to their car or nuthin  

As for the crime in your area depends on your area ... is moving an option in the future .... some places are just riddled with certain elements based on their incomes .

I would keep him inside until the perpetrator of the shooting is apprehended,  though I think it would be ok to take him to the playground at the most busy time of day and watch him closely.

When there was a kidnapping in my region where we lived in ALberta a couple years ago, all the parents were driving their kids to school, or accompanying them by foot, until the guy was caught. We were all nervous.

I worry about molesters and kidnappers, and about how to warn my child withough giving him too much information. It's a fine balance. I told him about Jaycee Dugard, just that she was grabbed and put in a car when she was going to school , and that her dad ran but couldn't catch the car, and that she was put through hell for 18 years before finaly being rescued. But I don't think it was enough. He didn't seem shaken by that news. Maybe he doesn't understand what "put through hell" means, or maybe he finds it so scarey he shuts down and ignores it. I reminded him that's why it's important never to get into a stranger's car. He allready knows that. Maybe he finds it a drag me bringin it up again.

In the virus case, I don't think the ilness itself is worth all the fuss. People with other chronic health issues, and the elderly, die of flu every year. I wouldn't make a big deal out of it. I hope the media starts playing it down. My father-in-law's neighbour had it and didn't even realize that was what he had. It was just like a normal flu for him. Many others are saying that.

I don't want to raise kids in an atmosphere of fear but they need to understand the idea of risk and how to avoid it.

If your neighbourhood has run into trouble, perhpas with violent teens or gangs, you all need to take care to avoid risks.  but as a child he needs some specific situational instruction.

I might find out what his school teaches about street safety so you can expand on it.  What steps the school takes to protect children in their playgrounds.

It might be that he needs an adult accompanying him to play outside your yard, I forget how old he is, or he might not.

My big rule to our kids related to adults approaching them, was that an adult would never ask advice from a kid.  never ask for street directions, help with finding lost pets....... 

It is also smart to know the types of people who are safe to go to for help.  Store clerks, moms with children, police officers in cars, teachers.

It might also be a good time to contact your police community liason officer for advice and input into neighbourhood safety and how parents can help.

I also think we have to remember that some fear is quite rationale.

The only reason I look both ways when crossing a street is out of fear. That seems to me a quite reasonable fear, and one that has served me well over the years. Those who don't have that fear don't live long.

Fear of random shooting in your neighbourhood is a reasonable fear. One should be afaid of that.

a general fear of all adults or all gays or all of any race is not reasonable. In those cases, you train the child to be alert to the specific concern, not to have a prejudice against the whole group.

graeme                             

Sad world we live in when we were kids all you had to do was be home by dark .....

LOL Jes, all these assumptions and you have no idea how my son lives.  True troll behavior.

Everyone else, thanks for the input.  I guess that you can't really prepare for a random shooting.  I've talked to my son about the dealers in the area and he already knew who they were and he steers clear of them.  There is a lot of foot and car traffic in the areas where he plays, so they are unlikely places for a drive-by.  He is 11 and really injoys the independence that he has earned.

Well you didn't go into how your son lives ..... so everyone is left to guess

There is a lot of foot and car traffic in the areas where he plays, so they are unlikely places for a drive-by. 

What are the likely places for a drive by is there a special route for the bullets to zing by ?

Jes, actually I did say.  You just guessed for the chance to act like an asshole.

Don't worry somegirl - Jes specializes in acting like an asshole.

oh, be fair. it's not an act.

 You just guessed for the chance to act like an asshole.

Nice display of a limited vocabulary .... why bother asking for opinions when you seem to know what is best .... hope the kid has other people to look out for him ...

Yet another chance not missed.  I'm beginning to agree with graeme that it's not an act.  Ah well, trolls will be trolls, or is it trolls will be assholes?

Like I said "limited"

Maybe a few night school diplomas might be useful

LOL, not limited Jes, succinct is the word you're looking for.

WTF are you talking about?  Not only are you an ass but you're high too.  Maybe you need to go back under your bridge to sleep it off.

It's gone.

gee, I find flagging offensive. Well, it would be offensive if it weren't so damned childish.

What's more childish is how easily offended some people are I wonder what they do in real life ?

Do they have people removed too ?