Protecting Our Daughters

Let's not assume our daughters know how to protect themselves from stalkers.

My kids are young enough that my worries about where they fit in society don't extend much farther than the identity of the class bully's latest victim; if one of my children is at the top of the rotation as either bully or victim, my concerns are a bit more complex. 

I had my parent-of-tweens thinking cap on when I began reading Vodkamom's post about the guy who's been bothering her daughter, so at first I thought she was referring to the class bully.  Soon I realized that her daughter is in high school and the guy who's been harassing her is old enough to drive, graduate, and sneak into her school.

Almost all of the 91 comments to Vodkamom's first post strongly encouraged VM to go straight to the police; the rest offered prayers, encouragement, and offers to kneecap the stalker.

Today she posted a followup with rules every girl should know, no matter her age.  Here are some highlights:

• When a person scares you and makes you too nervous to go anywhere alone- you must ask for help....
• If a police officer tells you that said person is dangerous – believe it.
• Be brave, be safe, make good choices- but never, never, never blame yourself for the actions of others.

These are things we don't think about until someone brings a problem to our attention, and by then it might be too late.  As a teenager I would have felt very uncomfortable bringing a problem like stalking to an adult, for fear of being blamed.  As adults we know (or should know) that this is wrong, and we should prepare our daughters to stick up for themselves.

Please click over to Vodkamom, absorb her wisdom, and offer some support.  Thanks.

Here's the picture Vodkamom posted to accompany her story.  Appropriate, no?

How long would you wait before notifying the police?

Comments

[darsden]

where is your follow me button. Great advice for young girls or actually anybody. Vodka Mom Rules!!

[darsden]

okay I found the one that take me to the twitter page...but I was hoping for one that would put an update in my dashboard so I would know when you have updated your blog. (still learning all the ropes so don't know about this yet)

[Helene]

Those are excellent tips you listed. Without knowing too much about VM's situation, I'd probably notify the police as soon as my daughter told me about what was happening. It just sounds plain scary!!

BTW, thanks for the correction on the Live and Let Die song. I have a hard time remembering which songs Paul McCartney recorded on his own!

[feefifoto]

Helene: I live to correct.

Not really. That's just what my kids think.