I took my family on vacation to Florida and while on the way back, we stopped for a bathroom break at a KFC. My son and I went in first and my wife and daughter stayed outside to walk the dog. It was a decent enough looking area.
I came out and my wife kind of gave me the stink eye. Seems that while she was out there, she had a woman walk up and invite her to buy some remote control toys. My wife, being a proper Southern woman who is afraid to be rude to anyone, says "no thanks we are coming back from vacation and have no money". The lady was polite and walked off.
As I was coming out with my son, the male of the pair pair started to approach me from about the 4 o clock position. He said "excuse me sir". I stopped, took a very deliberate half step his way (read stomp) and put my hand out and firmly said "Not interested". He wasn't a problem and backed off....I think somewhat surprised with my strong reaction. My proper Southern wife said "well, how did you know what he wanted"....I said "well, he doesn't belong to me and he has nothing to offer me whatsoever except trouble".
After we left, I realized I wouldn't let my wife alone again and my son asked me why I was so frank with the guy (my son is 8). So I was able to instill the fact that predators often use people's niceness against them to get close enough so they can attack them or rob them. So I told him the best defense is a good offense. I told him that any show of meekness...not meeting their eyes, looking away, looking down, letting a person approach too closely, etc. would be seen as a show of weakness to bad people.
He certainly understood that. Hopefully, he will remember it. I do that quite often with the panhandlers that hang around walmart. I find that when you spin around and shove that hand out, people assume that the other hand is waking smitty up from his nap.
New
I came out and my wife kind of gave me the stink eye. Seems that while she was out there, she had a woman walk up and invite her to buy some remote control toys. My wife, being a proper Southern woman who is afraid to be rude to anyone, says "no thanks we are coming back from vacation and have no money". The lady was polite and walked off.
As I was coming out with my son, the male of the pair pair started to approach me from about the 4 o clock position. He said "excuse me sir". I stopped, took a very deliberate half step his way (read stomp) and put my hand out and firmly said "Not interested". He wasn't a problem and backed off....I think somewhat surprised with my strong reaction. My proper Southern wife said "well, how did you know what he wanted"....I said "well, he doesn't belong to me and he has nothing to offer me whatsoever except trouble".
After we left, I realized I wouldn't let my wife alone again and my son asked me why I was so frank with the guy (my son is 8). So I was able to instill the fact that predators often use people's niceness against them to get close enough so they can attack them or rob them. So I told him the best defense is a good offense. I told him that any show of meekness...not meeting their eyes, looking away, looking down, letting a person approach too closely, etc. would be seen as a show of weakness to bad people.
He certainly understood that. Hopefully, he will remember it. I do that quite often with the panhandlers that hang around walmart. I find that when you spin around and shove that hand out, people assume that the other hand is waking smitty up from his nap.
New