A mum has revealed how sick she felt after her two young sons explained a horrifying incident in which they escaped with the help of two words she had told them.
Jodie Norton revealed on her blog, Time Well spent, how one morning she had been in the shower when she felt a stabbing pain in her abdomen, leaving her light-headed and feeling sick.
Struggling to get dressed, she then drove to her local hospital with her four kids.
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She left the two oldest boys, aged 10 and 8, outside of the A&E department on a bench to wait for a neighbour to pick them up and drive them to school, as per arrangement.
Later on, after it was all said and done, did Jodie discover that the neighbour had driven in from somewhere further than his house, making the route last 40 minutes instead of five.
While they waited, the two boys had been approached by three strangers who had attempted to leer them into a hospital bathroom with a man.
"Their story of what had transpired while I had stupidly left them out there alone made me simultaneously sick and grateful," she said.
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"While on that bench, they were approached by an adult female and two punk males who asked them if they'd #help them out by going into the bathroom where her boyfriend was hiding from the doctor and see if they could convince him to come out and get treated.'"
Her 10-year old son CJ replied "no, thank you" but the strangers persisted, saying: "Please? You could really save his life if you'd just go in that bathroom and tell him it's safe to come out."
Young CJ stood his ground and refused. They eventually gave up.
The boys saw a man emerge from the hospital bathroom, and hop into a car with the strangers before driving away.
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Jodie recalled her shock when her sons told her the story.
"I heard CJ spout off a family 'stay safe' rule we went over way too long ago that helped him know these creeps were up to no good. Most specifically, a tip for identifying a 'tricky person'."
CJ had said: "Mom, I knew they were tricky people because they were asking us for help. Adults don't ask kids for help."
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That's the magic words: tricky person.
Created by Safely Ever After, the 'tricky people' concept advises to "Stop telling your kids not to talk to strangers. They might need to talk to a stranger one day.
"Instead, teach them which sorts of strangers are safe."
"Replace the word 'stranger' with 'tricky person'. It's not what someone looks like, it's what they say or want to do with a child that makes them unsafe or 'tricky'.
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"A tricky person can be someone you know well, don't know at all or know just a little bit. Like your mail carrier or the ice cream man. Anyone who tries to get a child to break their safety rules or hurt their body is not OK."
You can find out more on their website.
Featured Image Credit: Instagram