A Social Experiment Video EVERY Parent Should Watch

When Carsyn was two and a half, she got away from me for maybe 90 seconds at the mall. It is still the scariest 90 seconds of my life. I will never forget the desperation and terror that I felt while looking for her. From such an early age, we all tell our children, "Don't talk to strangers". But, in the eyes of a child, a stranger means something differently than it does to us adults.

I encourage every parent, grand-parent, aunt or uncle, care-giver, anyone really who is ever in charge of a child, to watch this video. This is a social experiment of what happens when a man, with a dog, tries to lure children away with him from a playground. Prepare to be speechless.

How terrifying is it, that a nice guy and a cute dog can convince your child to walk away from you? The beautiful thing about children is their innocence and instant ability to trust. It's our difficult job as parents, not to take that innocence away, but to make sure they know what it and what isn't ok to trust.

Carsyn and I will be watching this video together tonight. I wish I could say that she wouldn't have gone with the guy in the video, but I'm pretty sure that she would have. Not because I'm a bad parent and not because she doesn't know "stranger danger", but because she is a trusting child.

With warmer weather here, we'll all be at parks and playgrounds, the ball park and other public places with lots of strangers. Watch this video with your children. Make sure they know it's never ok to walk away with anyone without telling you first. One conversation really could save your child.

This video really opened my eyes to just how easy it could be for a tragedy to happen. A stranger isn't always some dirty man in an old, beat-up van, sometimes it's a nice guy with a cute puppy.