I Think I Just Lost Mother of the Year...

This morning on my way to work I was listening to a popular (local) morning radio show. They were reading the news...bad economy, GM bailout, yada yada yada...then they read a story about a man trying to get a kid into a white minivan by bribing him with candy in a school district too close for comfort. Thankfully, the child knew all about "stranger danger" and screamed and ran away. They also reported this occuring in other areas of Mid-Michigan. Then they issued a warning to parents about making sure you talk to your children about strangers and I realized that I'd talked to Brevin in the past but it hasn't come up with Laney. I was determined that when I got home that afternoon I would be making sure to explain stranger danger to them. So, we arrived home and our outside temp showed nearly 50 degrees! The kids were so excited to be able to play outside and not freeze so they ran out on the back deck. At this exact moment I remembered I wanted to talk to them about strangers. So I peeked my head out the slider and (thinking I was being a very proactive parent) explained what I'd heard on the radio and asked them what they thought they should do. Their responses were as follows: Brevin: "I'll hit 'em with a stick" (which he proceeded to pick up and use during a pretty intense ninja routine). Delaney: "Call the police." The correct answer of course is to scream and run away which I told them both and had them repeat. This is where I messed up. I went inside to do some light housework and following me right back in were two frightened little children that refused to play outside because they thought someone was going to jump out of the bushes and steal them away. UGH!!! I didn't intend to frighten just inform. Parenting is definitely a practice makes perfect situation.