Home invasions have made the news lately as an alarming form of child abduction. Someone will sneak into the house at night and snatch the child from his or her room right underneath their parents’ noses. Even more troubling, victims of this type of abduction are rarely ever found alive again.

Teaching children what to do in this circumstance could very easily save many of these kids. The problem is, during this type of abduction, children have no idea what to do. It is a scary situation, and they do what the abductor wants usually because of threats of death if they do not comply. An abductor will hold a knife to the child’s throat, or a gun, and tell the child that if they make a sound they will kill them. The child then walks with the attacker as silent as can be out of the house, and is usually never seen alive again.

Children need to be taught to not keep quiet during this ordeal. They need to scream, holler, call for their parents, and fight the abductor as much as they can. If the abductor was not planning on killing your child, they won’t do so simply because they don’t comply. They will run when they encounter an unwilling child who is making lots of noise. If the abductor was planning on killing your child, there is a lesser chance they will if the child is not compliant, but there is a much more likely chance they will simply take off, not having had the chance to carry out their plan as desired. Being silent is death. Kicking and screaming will in most cases result in the child’s life being spared.

• Try to get in the habit of locking your doors at night. Don’t make it any easier on someone than you have to. These people usually take the path of least resistance, and that will in most cases be a child who lives in a house where they are an easy target.
• Try sleeping with bedroom doors open a crack at night, especially those between your child’s room and your bedroom. (If you keep them closed for intimacy, open them up afterwards.) You don’t want your child to be screaming for help and not be heard.
• Tell children that if they were to ever wake up at night and find someone in their room, no matter what that person says, no matter what that person has, they should scream as loud as they can.
• Explain to them that people who say they will kill them are just saying that so that you go along with what they want. If you do listen to them and go with them, that person really might kill you. But if you scream and fight, the person will probably run away.
• Tell children to make as much noise as they can.   If they put their hand over your mouth, move your head around and grab at their arm so you can make noise. Kick the walls or anything you can kick to make noise. Bite the hand if they hold it over your mouth. Do whatever you can do to make noise.
• Teach children never to go quietly anywhere with anyone who wakes them up at night, even someone they know. Remember, more than half of all child murderers know the child and the culprit is usually familiar with the house. Another possible threat is caused by the abductor treating the child as a “friend.” They could convince the child to willingly sneak out of the house.