Rhonda Robinson Rhonda Robinson is a mother of nine, and grandmother of 16, who believes the single most powerful force in America today is a vigilant mother, unafraid to nurture and protect her children. Still married to her high school sweetheart, Rhonda is a homeschooling mother by day, and a speaker, weekly newspaper columnist, and freelance writer by night (actually, really early morning before anyone is up—but it’s still dark out, so that counts.) Spanning 20 years of homeschooling and childbirth, Rhonda has gained over 572 pounds and lost 500, nursed a total of 17 years, and changed at least 29, 952 diapers, and rocked over 5,000 miles of tearful terrain. She holds a Master’s degree in laundry and speaks fluent toddler. View all articles | Contact author

"It's your fault!" the 25 year-old said, stomping her foot.

"It's all your fault" she repeated, "I can't walk next to you without holding onto the shopping cart!"

What can I say?  Taking five to seven small children into a grocery store was like herding grasshoppers, so I developed systems for my sanity --and their safety. 

For excursions to the grocery store we used the "buddy" system.  All children exiting the vehicle had to choose a buddy to hold hands with.  Buddies would walk together, but could not get farther away from me than my arm's reach.  Stragglers with no partner were required to hold onto the shopping cart and not let go.  Obviously, this had been well ingrained (lasting into adulthood).

My son's wife tells me that my son will not wear red; the result of another childhood trauma, no doubt.  Once, while walking in a parade I dressed all of the children in matching outfits.  My boys (and husband) wore red tee-shirts.  The girls all wore matching brightly colored skirts with a different color tee-shirt; one wore red, another blue, another yellow (five girls in all).  Add a few ribbons streaming from their hair and they looked charming. 

I hadn't anticipated everyone else in the parade dressing in white (someone was selling event tee-shirts).  Still, every third person stopped and commented on how cute the family looked.  While this tickled me, it was very distressing to the adolescent boy I drug along. 

"If one more person says something mom-- I'm out-a-here" he announced.  "Oh, they won't son, you're fine." 

"Face it mom, we look cute" he said with shear disgust punctuating every syllable.

The words barely left the boy's lips when the sweetest elderly woman bent down to coo over the "cute baby."

"That's it!" his hands went up in the air, and he walked the duration of the parade trailing ten feet behind us trying his best to be invisible.

He had no way of knowing my plan had worked. By dressing them all in bright colors I could spot any one of them in a crowd at a distance, and they could find me.

Also, everyone walking past us, either consciously or unconsciously would note that we matched or belonged together.  If anyone of the children were to become separated from us, everyone who had passed by us would know who that child belonged to.

Always in the back of my mind, when taking children in the midst of a large public gathering, was the danger not only of loosing a child, but of one being taken.  My hope was that a child that looked so tied to a group, or family, would not be easy prey to predators. 

Child abduction is a horrific reality parents face; we can't expect children to grasp the grave consequences of abduction, or rely on the old "never talk to strangers" routine. 

There are so many new areas where our children are vulnerable.  Internet predators come into your home as silent as shadows.  One-in-five children are subjected to unwanted sexual solicitations online. 

Children often unknowingly give a predator all the information he needs to find them. 

A child chatting online after school with a friend about her love of Beanie Babies innocently gives her phone number, and has just told a predator that:

• She loves beanie babies
• She is home in the late afternoon.
• A reverse phone search quickly gives her address and parents name
• With an address, a map search gives directions to her home.  With just a little more effort and her local school can be located as well.

A chilling scenario.

Neither red tee-shirts, nor holding onto a cart can protect children from online predators.  Only controlled, supervised access to the internet can do that.

If you wouldn't consider dropping your child off in the middle of Chicago for an afternoon stroll, you better think twice before letting her explore the World Wide Web without your watchful eye.