Steps to Protect Your Children - Take the Time to Remember Active Parenting

Keeping my kids safe is currently one of the most difficult things in my life. With the current situation involving young Madeleine and the complete shock to her family over it, I have looked into how I am protecting my own children and thought I would share what I do to other parents. Realizing that Madeleine was much younger than my own children and also they were on vacation, these tips are more designed as simply an "awareness", that you can never, as a parent, let your guard down.

I have every belief that Madeleine's situation was not a condition of her parents letting their guard down. McCann, who turned four on Saturday, disappeared from the family's room May 3 while her parents were at dinner, and the abduction has sparked a national outpouring of sympathy and aid in Britain. Madeleine vanished after her parents left her and her brother and sister, both aged 2, alone in their room while they went to a tapas bar inside their hotel complex in southern Portugal's Algarve region, a popular European tourist destination. At this point, attempting to judge the decision to leave three toddlers alone in a room is a moot point. No explanations, no ransom, no awareness of why has been unearthed. This is devastating to a concerned parent. There is no way to prepare for this moment. The last question you never want to ask is "where is my child?". I sat down with my own children and talked about young Madeleine and how it affected them when they heard of a child, any child, going missing.

Recently in Australia, two young girls committed suicide, but not before leaving notes and messages on the Internet that their parents were not aware of. In recent days, a young woman (15) was brazenly kidnapped on the street and has yet to be seen. Also, a woman's entire family has gone missing again, after being abducted by their father. Children can disappear in a heartbeat and with an active slave trade with millions in children under 12, there is no reason to not take every precaution.