Close, But Not Close Enough!

Today while I was grocery shopping - this elderly man came up to us while I was putting the kids and groceries in the car. He kept his distance (I assume so he didn't alarm me too bad) but asked me to please be careful in the parking lots. He began telling me about someone who got mugged at the Walmart on city over and then that there was a man shot this weekend 2 cities over (he was killed) when a man tryed mugging a woman and she fought back. The person shot was not with the woman, just someone in the parking lot that got in the way of a bullet! There was also a person that was kidnapped in a parking lot where my parents live and was found killed the next county over. These were all Walmart stores that these happened at. His wife works there and has for more than 15 years and he is very worried about her because the managers will not allow anyone to walk her to her car when she gets off work.

The boys heard him saying this and when I got in the car Caleb asked if someone was murdered in the parking lot. I explained that someone was, but that it could happen anywhere. I then began going over AGAIN what they should do if a stranger approaches them. They got in trouble this weekend for running up to the door of the house next door - but out of our sight (the house is empty). I explained again why they could not do that and how someone could have easily jerked open that door and pulled them in.

Then I told them that if anyone ever trys to grab them, to scream as loud as they could "this is a stranger" or "this is not my mom or dad" or "help". After discussing all of this, I also talked about 911. At the end, Bryce announces "if anyone trys to touch me that I don't know, I am calling 991 to talk to the police." I told him if he called 991 - he would NOT reach the police!