Stranger Danger: When Do YOU Open the Door?

Family Friday

On a lazy Saturday morning a few weeks ago, I was blow-drying my hair while my husband tooled around on the computer.  My five-year-old daughter, who had been downstairs with her brothers watching the usual weekend cartoons, suddenly padded into our room. She handed me a piece of paper and chirped in her Munchkin-esque voice, "Some strangers told me to give you this."  

Whaaaat???

"What strangers?" I gasped.

"The strangers at the door."

"You opened the front door?"

"Uh-huh."

"You’re not supposed to do that!" I sputtered.

"Sorry," she shrugged.

With the hair dryer on, I didn’t hear any doorbell.  My husband said he did, but didn't feel like answering it and assumed no one else would either.

Heart pounding, I grabbed the piece of paper.  Oh, thank God – Jehovah’s Witnesses, promising a beautiful, peaceful new world.  I'm sure they're trained not to come inside – they might end up meeting their Maker sooner than planned.

"Were they boys or girls?" I demanded.  I'm pretty sure they travel in same-sex pairs.  Why am I asking this?  Does it really matter?

"Boys."  Oh, great.

"How old were they?  Were they more like teenagers, or more like Grandma's age?"  Dumb question – they're always young.

"I don’t know," she shrugged again.  Twenty, seventy, what's the difference?

"Well, don't open the door again unless you're with one of us!"

"Oh-kay!"

Right now, I feel like a negligent fool.  But I swear, I've told them over and over: Don't answer the door.  Look out the window – if you know who it is, you can answer it, but ask Mommy or Daddy first.

But on second thought, I realize that I've directed most of my preaching toward my oldest, an eight-year-old boy who has never met a stranger.  My future politician chats up just about anyone he encounters, and the sound of the doorbell gets him more excited than Richard Simmons with a Motown soundtrack blasting.  He and I have had long talks about stranger danger, crime, and the sad fact that Not Everyone Is a Friend.  Since he seems to have gotten the message, I assumed the younger kids would absorb it by osmosis.  But no…

I, as a reasonably practical adult female, only answer the door under a very limited set of circumstances:

• The person is a family member;
•  The person is expected (e.g., the pizza guy, and I make sure he is actually carrying a pizza first);
• The person appears to be under the age of ten; or
•  The person is female AND I know her.

Even that fairly concrete set of rules requires some judgment calls.  So I've given the kids an even easier rule: "family members only."  Simply knowing or recognizing someone is not enough.  Consider this: last winter, on a main road within sight of our house, a man dragged a female jogger into the bushes and sexually assaulted her.  Thankfully, she managed to escape after her attacker tried to force her into his car.  When the police analyzed DNA evidence and made an arrest a few weeks later, the attacker turned out to be our neighbor from eight houses away!  So obviously, familiarity should not imply safety or trustworthiness.

But I do want to instill common sense, not promote paranoia.  Already it seems that crime is everywhere in our culture.  Even my third grader is studying forensics in his science unit, including fingerprinting and tooth impression analysis (which he is wicked-excited about, by the way).  Last spring he tried to booby-trap our house so that if "robbers" break in during the night, they'll create a lot of noise and scare themselves away.

Kids (and adults) often take anecdotal information way out of proportion, while ignoring the statistical improbability of becoming a crime victim.  But how do we protect our children without scaring the bejeezus out of them?  Any ideas?

Comments

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=597533992]

Lifelong Jehovah's Witnesses dissident speaks out on JW belief system .

A) They are at your door to recruit you for their watchtower society corporation,they will say that "we are just here to share a message from the Bible" this is deception right off.

B) Their 'message' creed is a false Gospel that Jesus had his second coming in 1914.The problem with this is it's not just a cute fairy tale,Jesus warned of the false prophets who would claim "..look he is here in the wilderness,or see here he is at the temple."

C) Their anti-blood transfusion ban against *whole blood* has killed thousands.

D) once they recruit you they will "love bomb" you in cult fashion to also recruit your family & friends or cut them off.
----
Danny Haszard Jehovah's Witness X 33 years
LEARN MORE http://www.dannyhaszard.com

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=597533992]

Jehovah's Witnesses Trespassing

Call the Police if the JW harassment persist their sham DO NOT CALL LIST is often ignored (as they admit).

It's is incumbent upon the Jehovah's Witnesses to accept verbal rejection.I will not put up a no trespassing sign and weird out my home as unfriendly just for them.They are the door to door telemarketers of the world.

BTW the JW do not "teach the Bible" but Watchtower cult dogmas they are there to recruit you to be a watchtower society drone.

The whole door to door thing is risky now-days and less effective in the Internet age,I google everything first. Door to door usually means using the automobile and is NOT green.

[Mary]

Instruct children to always get parents when strangers call!

WHY?
Jehovah's Witnesses commits door to door rape of child!
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/16510/jehovahs-witness-in-door-to-door-sex-assault-scandal

[Concerned]

Jehovah's Witnesses allow pedophiles to knock on doors.
See details here:
http://examiningthescripturesdaily.blogspot.com/

[jeff]

AS one of Jehovah's Witnesses, when a child comes to the door, I (and most all witnesses) tell them not to open the door, but to go get mom, dad or whoever's taking care of them. Like the author of the article says, our message is positive, one of better things to come, good news! Isn't that what we all need? JW dissidentes on the other hand, as you can tell, are full of hatred & negativity. They will never offer you a better future or hope of any kind. All they do is spew negativity.

[Susan]

Jehovah's Witnesses come to our homes with a pretense that is fraudulent from the get-go.

You pitch that you are doing Jesus work (lie) you use all sorts of conversation starters to try to put us at ease,con and scam us into joining your sect,that is no better than any other.
Jehovah's Witnesses will tell you their Kingdom Halls are for "worship", but their "worship" consists of being taught how to overcome objections to the sales pitches they give at your doors and how to try and get their extremely deceptive literature into your hands.

Their Kingdom Hall meetings are to bolster their elitist teachings that they have the only religion on earth that pleases God,only they are being blessed by God and that all other people on the planet but them will be destroyed soon by their God.

[Donna Patterson]

Danny, Danny, Danny,

Do you ever have anything positive to say? If you're going to bash JWs, what's your message? What is the future for mankind and the earth? What is God's kingdom? How is God going to solve problems of wickedness, hatred, sickness and death? How would one identify true religion today?

Let's hear some answers from you.

[Susan]

There is no hate campaign against JW they do seem to have a compulsive pathological need to feel hated as this feeds into their persecution complex.Watchtower corporation followers imagine that they are despised like Jesus was.

The Reverend Jim Jones and David Koresh death cults had these same grandiose delusions.

The best source of info on JW is EX-members who are no longer under the spell of the Watchtower corporation.
The Watchtower teaches Jesus second coming on October 1914 this is false doctrine.

[JW]

Danny

Don't you have anything constructive to do? I encourage you to check out Psalm 37:9-11 and meditate on it.

[Scott]

Time will tell all things!!! It sure would be bad to be wrong...
Danny, get some therapy!