Perhaps the most important way parents can protect their children is to teach them to be wary of potentially dangerous situations.

Help children recognize the warning signs of suspicious behavior, such as when an adult asks them to keep a secret, to disobey their parents or do something without permission, asks children for help or makes them feel uncomfortable in any way.

Parents should also talk to their children about how they should handle dangerous situations. In dangerous situations, kids should say no, run away, yell as loud as they can and tell a safe adult what happened immediately.
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Examples of risky one-on-one situations that kids and adults should be aware of:  a sports coach driving a kid home after a game, an uncle reading a bedtime story with the room door closed, a teacher who asks a student to stay after school for a private consultation, a babysitter changing the kid’s clothes with the door closed, an older cousin and a kid playing in the basement.

To learn about how to identify Red Flag behaviors please click HERE.