Have A Code Edition

I received a request via e-mail for another Public Service Announcement. I'll try to keep 'em coming as best I can! Here goes nothing...

There has been a lot of news coverage lately about kidnappings/missing persons cases. I can't help but think back to my own childhood and a simple, yet effective system that my parents used. If we were to go anywhere with an adult, whether we knew them or not, they must know "the code". Ours happened to be the title of a television show that was not very well known. Back in the day school systems didn't have a sign-in policy or a list of names of trusted adults who might pick up your child from school. Anyone could waltz in the front office, claim that there was an emergency involving a student's parents, but that they were a relative of the family, and drive off with a child. I don't think this sort of thing is likely to happen today, but of course there are other ways to abduct a child. My parents also knew that just because they were friends with an individual does not mean that they would trust them with their children. In the event of an emergency, or a rare case in which my parents could not be there to take me somewhere, a trusted adult would be told our code. And so if someone were to drive up to me, whether I knew them or not, as I was riding my bike to a friend's house or walking home from the bus stop, and say to me "would you help me find my puppy?" I would simply ask; "what is the code?" This is something I will definitely practice with my child(ren) as well.