When my youngest daughter was in school, she was paranoid about getting kidnapped. She and I had a code word that only the two of us knew. She knew that if someone said they were supposed to pick her up or give her a ride, that she was NOT to go with them unless they knew the code word--even if it was someone she knew. (Unless it was her dad or siblings--she could go with them.) When she was old enough to drive, if she walked anywhere after dark, she talked to me on the cell phone while she was walking. She told me if she stopped talking during the walk, to call the police! Now that she is married and in another state, she still calls me late at night when she gets out of work and talks to me on the cell phone on the drive home alone out in the boondocks. She has to drive on some long, dark, scary roads to get home. I rarely drive anywhere my myself after dark but if I have to, I keep the car doors locked and my cell phone next to me and usually take my 95 pound German shepherd dog too. When I reach my destination, I call my husband and let him know I got there--and also call him when I leave for home too.
