So I am not allowed to put a "It's a Girl!" sign up

I understand everyone's point about the statistics and the low probability of being the victim of any type of crime or accident.

The issue is: are you willing to gamble with your child's safety and well-being? I'm not.

 

Really? I thought the issue had turned more into a question of whether or not the gamble you would be taking with your child's safety and well-being is really any worse than it would have been in the past, or if our perception of dangers to children have changed drastically.

 

You missed my point.

It is irrelevant whether things are better or worse when the safety of my child is at stake.

 

Yeah, they watch Oxygen.

 

Maybe he just doesn't want the sign in his yard and didn't know how to tell you so you'd understand.

 

That reminds me of when I was in high school, my school school went on a retreat and we had to stay at an old girl scout's camp site. The camp site was unlisted and it could only be found following a bunch of old dirt roads. I asked why it was so hidden and they told me there couldn't be any signs of the girls camp for fear that someone could kidnap or break in and molest the girls there.

 

yup say "it's a girl" to family and friends not to random drivers/pedestrians

 

I'm thinking he didn't want the sign no matter what. He also knew you would be a pain in the ass about it so he used that story

why are you so hung up on putting up a stupid sign

 

You can't protect your children from everything. If you try, chances are you'll do more harm than good. As parents (I'm a father of three), IMO we need to be vigilant about keeping things in perspective. It's so easy to buy into the hype. Like the SUMMER OF SHARKS!!!!!!

The baby sign. Who cares.

But letting your kids go to the mall by themselves? At some age that is a perfectly reasonable thing to do. And actually, it's not based on age ...it's based on the maturity level of the kid. You can have 14 y/o's act more mature and trustworthy than some 18 y/o's. So the parents need to be engaged, teach kids how the world works ...and at some point TRUST THEM.

 

Apparently, you have a problem respecting people's wishes.

 

No issue with your perspective and I agree wholeheartedly. You stated it clearly with the necessary regard for the safety of your child vis-a-vis their maturity level. You can see the shades of grey that often gets painted in stark black and white here.

 

Some excellent posts in this thread already but responding to this one.

You gamble with your child's safety all the time, for instance do you allow your children to play sports like soccer? I can understand the desire to be protective but at the same time over protecting can also harm a child's development. As Gladiatorrowdy noted we are actually a much safer society now than we were 40 or 30 years ago the biggest change though is that we have more information which includes a large dose of sensationalism. It shouldn't be a surprise that pedophiles snatching kids become an issue when we hear about them in the news all the time but if anything the rates of random pedophile snatching kids has been going down. From what statistics I have heard kids are way more likely to be molested by people they know than random strangers.

 

Kind of ironic coming from a poster who complains about the government, and in this case another individual, not respecting individual decisions.