Mind Your Socks and Shoes

Last week, an alleged predator tried to talk to kids at our school by luring them with a cute little doll.  The sheriff came. A memo went out.  Andra didn’t notice the notice, but Grace trumpeted the news – including personal details such as the names of some of the girls approached.  Thank goodness the attitude factor of third graders these days is high enough that accordingly to Grace, her friends were like “Yea Right, Mister – go away!”

We often discuss the fact that there are a million great people who just want to help you, but there also might be one bad guy lurking around a corner every now and then – or in this case, on the other side of the school fence holding a doll.  I emphasize that there is no reason to freak out – just trust your instincts and if it feels creepy, it probably is. 

This is not the problem.  The problem is, that as they get older, they just don’t understand WHY some creepy guy wants to take a kid from the school yard.  Since we have encouraged understanding and intellectual curiosity, they WANT to understand, but without some higher form of sexual knowledge, at least of a form that exceeds the “family life” discussion of the fourth grade, they just don’t get it.  And while I am wildly open about most things, explaining the details of molestation are not at the top of my “Things to talk about today”.

So while Andra is still scratching her head, Grace has it all figured out.  Out of the blue, and out of context yesterday, here is what she came up with. 

There is a man, and he starts at like Mount Lemmon, or the Grand Canyon, and he goes to one school in every town.  He goes to every town in the country, and then he starts over again at a new school in the same towns, over and over.  He used to work in a shoe and sock factory, and he stole some secret knowledge about making shoes and socks, and he takes the kids to make the shoes and socks with his stolen knowledge.

So far, we are going to just go with that explanation.

Please make sure you know where your socks and shoes are made and support sweat shop free footwear.  It’s pretty important, really.

Advertisement