We will do anything to protect our children from harm.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of potential dangers out there, particularly for young children. As cliche as it might sound, "Stranger Danger" is a very real thing.
Imgur | corgilinc
Dad Reports Creep In Van Watching His Sons And Discovers He's Actually The Creep
At some point or another, we've all been told not to take candy from strangers, talk to people we don't know on the streets, or get into unmarked vans.
It was likely our parents who told us this in an effort to keep us safe.
As scary as it is to think about, parents have to live with the reality that there are bad people out there who target children.
Unsplash | Ben Wicks
According to the Child Rescue Network, there are over 2,100 children reported missing each day in the US alone.
Thankfully, many of these missing cases turn out to be a misunderstanding.
Unsplash | Kelly Sikkema
But there are still a shocking amount of instances where the child has been physically taken for malicious reasons.
There are three types of child kidnappings: family, aquaintance, and stranger.
Unsplash | Charlein Gracia
Parents may not always consider close aquaintances or other family members as being behind their child's abduction, but SCOUT reports that acquaintances account for about 27 percent of child kidnapping cases.
Another 24 percent of cases are carried out by strangers.
Children are most vulnerable to stranger abductions when they are outdoors alone.
Unsplash | Kevin Gent
These are the moments when children are without the protection of their parents and become a target for stranger abductions.
One father on Reddit became concerned when his sons told him a creepy man in a van had been watching them.
Unsplash | Nik Shuliahin
Posted in the r/tifu subreddit, user Plagmoid wrote about an incident in which he became aware of a pervert spying on his 7-year-old twin boys while they walked between buildings at their school.
According to his sons, the man would sit in the school parking lot and stare at them.
"This morning I finally took initiative and called the school," Plagmoid wrote, "They assured me that the situation would be handled."
It was the right thing to do.
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I'm sure many of the parents at the school would have done the same had their children raised the issue, and would be glad that the school could take action.
Unfortunately, this concerned dad wasn't able to connect the dots until it was too late.
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As it turns out, he was so caught up in hunting down this parking lot pervert that he forgot about his own daily afternoon activities.
He explained that he has been working near the boys' school every day and parks in the lot during his lunch hour to eat and use the school's WiFi.
This is also when he would wave at his sons as they walked outside between buildings.
"If you're realizing that I'm the 'pervert' I reported, congratulations, you're officially sharper than me."
The man didn't actually clue in to this fact until three police cruisers surrounded his work van.
"As it turns out, between the work van they'd never seen me in, my hardhat, and my sunglasses, the boys never realized it was me," he wrote.
Thankfully he was able to explain the misunderstanding to the police and the school principal.
Unsplash | Matt Popovich
However, Reddit users aren't letting him off that easy.
"I mean this in the nicest way possible, but how can you be so stupid," one implored, while another likened the man's life to a sitcom.
"My wife constantly tells me that I'm basically a Simpsons character," Plagmoid replied.
At the end of the day, the man can at least rest easy knowing how seriously his school took his "pervert" complaint.
I'm sure there are many parents out there who wonder how their children's school would react.
It was probably a little humiliating to have to admit the mix up to both the three responding police officers and the school principal.
But we're sure Plagmoid was happy that they had made the effort to do something about that parking lot pervert.
Even if it had been him all along.
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