My daughter was an infant when child beauty pageant contestant JonBenet Ramsey was murdered in the basement of her own home by a still unknown predator. I was already a bit paranoid, but that sweet little girl’s murder made me and a nation of parents even more paranoid about the bad guys out there who are capable of harming our children. It’s a fear I didn’t anticipate when I started to think of planning children. I knew that people who do these kinds of things are out there, of course, but I didn’t realize how paralyzing the fear would be once your own vulnerable child was at risk.
I probably made my kids paranoid as well, but the fact is, we live in a dangerous world and as parents, we’re the only ones who can fully prepare our children for the worst-case scenarios. In short, I just imagined bad guys on every corner, and honestly, I wasn’t far off from reality. We’ve seen time and again that we can’t take our eyes off of our children for even a minute, and the more we teach them about how to be on top of their own safety, the better prepared they will be when it matters most. That’s what Brenda James knew when she taught her little girl Maddison a code word that she would use to keep herself safe.
The mom and daughter told Good Morning America about the incident that happened when Maddison and her friend were talking near a park. Maddison says that a stranger in a white SUV approached the two little girls to tell her that her brother had been in a serious accident. He had his face shielded and Madison couldn’t see him very well, but she knew exactly what to do because her mom had prepared her. Madison immediately asked the man for the family’s secret code word. The stranger obviously didn’t have the answer and he went blank before driving away. A startled Maddison ran home right away to tell her grandmother what had transpired.
Maddison told her family and the police that the man “Just kind of froze, his face. And drove off.” Maddison said that she was frightened because had she climbed into his vehicle, she “didn’t know what he would do to me.” Her mom said that the family had just launched the use of a code word for this kind of situation, explaining that she hopes that this shows other kids that it’s OK to ask that question. James suggests that kids respond to other kids more than they do to adults, and that’s probably true. Maybe Maddison’s story will help another family.
YouYouTubeMaddison and her family have been praised by police, who say that they hope this will encourage other parents to put similar safety features in place to protect their children. What’s terrifying is that other children have seen a similar vehicle with a man who looks like the man Maddison described circling the park several times a day. Watch this video below.
