Talking to Your Teens About the Cleveland Kidnappings

Parenting teens is no simple task. Talking about sensitive topics with your teens is especially challenging particularly when recent news events are so violent in nature. Consider the recent news about the three young women in Cleveland who were kidnapped and sexually assaulted for 10 years. Two of these young women were teens when they were abducted. How, on earth, you are all likely wondering, should you talk to your teens about this?

First, you must talk to your teens about this tragedy because there are teaching opportunities here. In addition, your teens need to be in touch with their culture and about all things going on in the world in which they live.

Here are some talking/teaching points that you can discuss with your teens:

1. They should be vigilant about their surroundings.

2. Taking rides from friendly strangers is not a good idea.(although I am certainly not blaming the victims for the crime).

3. They should be discouraged from keeping secrets.

4. If they sense that something is amiss then they should speak about it.

AND

5. Social support is crucial for everyone.