Child abduction experiment sparks concern – WKBW

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW/YOUTUBE) - It's the classic what would you do experiment, only the kids edition.  Youtube prankster Joey Salads put a twist on his normally comedic videos with a social experiment.

Salads went to a park with a fluffy white puppy.  He asked random parents if their kids would put everything they've learned about stranger danger into action if he approached them with the dog and asked them to leave with him.

As the Youtube video documents, instead of saying no and calling for help, one by one,  innocent children walked away without a word to their moms, hand-in-hand with Salads, a complete stranger.

7 Eyewitness News showed the video to a woman babysitting two children at Delaware Park Tuesday.  The surprise was written all over her face.

But there were no surprises for Dr. Pamela Schuetze, a psychology professor at Buffalo State College.  She says kids see things in black and white and if a stranger comes up to them and they're smiling and nice, the child will think they are a good person.

Dr. Schuetze urged parents to role play with their children and act out various scenarios both positive and negative and work with your child on the appropriate responses.

But she also warned parents against being overly worried because the number of stranger abductions is declining, according to published media reports.

The Child Laws website cites that less than one quarter of child abductions are by a stranger and girls are more likely to be targeted than boys.


 

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