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CNN Sunday Morning
Parents Use Game to Teach Child Safety
Aired July 28, 2002 - 10:10 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THOMAS ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: We want to talk now about the slaying of Casey Williamson. She's the 6-year-old Missouri girl who was abducted and killed. Police say an autopsy revealed she died after being hit with a blunt object. A 24-year-old homeless man named Johnny Johnson has been charged with her murder. Funeral services for Casey, as she was known, have been set for Tuesday.
Casey Williamson's abduction and others recently have given parents new concerns about their kids' safety. The big question, though, but how do you teach your kids about keeping safe without the fear factor involved? CNN's Jason Bellini joins us now with more on that this morning. Hey, Jason.
JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, good morning. It's not an easy thing to do. And with this rash of child abductions around the U.S., most of which have ended tragically, parents we've spoken with are reassessing how they're protecting their children.
I spoke with one Atlanta family that's wrestling with the question of what to tell their child so that if he's approached by strangers, he'll know what to do. And they found a creative approach for it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(voice-over): Cody Smith (ph), 6 years old, plays with his mom, Amy, and father Tim a game called quick think. It's a bit like candy land.
AMY SMITH, MOTHER: Go ahead two spaces.
BELLINI: Except to advance on the board, you have to correctly answer scenario questions.
TIM SMITH, FATHER: Isabella is shopping with her mother. She is tired of looking at sheets and towels. She thinks she will ask if she can go to the toy department alone and look at the toys.
BELLINI: What would Cody (ph) do?
CODY SMITH: Stay with her mother, even if she's sick of it.
BELLINI: Tim and Amy describe themselves as conscientious parents, trying to reassure themselves they've gotten the message across to Cody (ph) that there are bad people out there who'd want to hurt him, while not turning him into a frightened, nervous kid.
A. SMITH: We try to steer Cody (ph) on the side of seeing the good in people, and having a positive, a favorable view and a vision of the world, but, at the same time, you need to impress upon him that bad things can happen.
C. SMITH: Come on, let's just go on with the game!
A. SMITH: We will. But we also want to do that without scaring him, or damaging his trust for people.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BELLINI: Who to trust and whom not to trust -- it's a difficult distinction to articulate, Thomas. They're struggling with it.
ROBERTS: But we see there that they are really enjoying that game, because we hear the little boy in the background saying, mommy, come on, let's get back to the game, so it's obviously something that kids are really relating to. The parents can use that to teach their kids some really important information, but the kids are enjoying it on a different level.
BELLINI: Absolutely. And some of the scenarios were interesting. What to do if your bike breaks down and a nice person comes by and says, I can help you. It's a tough thing. There are some subtleties involved, they're difficult to get across to a child, so they talk them through. So it is a good method for provoking discussion.
ROBERTS: And another thing that we're hearing from that mom there is so important to her that she wants to talk with her kids about this, but not have them so fearful of everything going on in the world that they can't trust anybody.
BELLINI: That's right. And it's also important to note that most child abductions -- this according to the FBI -- take place with people who the child knows, and oftentimes family members. So there are actually very few child abductions across the U.S. And the rate, believe it or not, is declining. It's hard to believe right now, with this rash of abductions, though.
ROBERTS: Yeah, we've been hearing so much about it, you think it would be increasing. But as you said, it's actually declining. All right, Jason, thanks very much, we appreciate it.
BELLINI: You bet.
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