Oh, god. Part of me hates to tell you about the Dateline NBC series "My Kid Would Never Do That," because ... well, guess what? My kid and probably your kid WOULD do that, it turns out. I mean, okay. Let me put it this way ... Natalie Morales cried. SHE CRIED.
This new series is sort of in the tradition of "To Catch a Predator," except that it uses hidden cameras to catch kids making really scary life-choices instead of perverts ... well, making really scary life-choices. Then producers sit down with parents and experts to watch the results ... and ... oh boy. You think you know your kid ...
But apparently, all those lessons we've tried to teach about "stranger danger" and the tricks potential kidnappers will try to play go flying out of their heads when a random guy offers a private tour of an ice cream truck. (That's the part that made Natalie Morales cry -- watching her 8-year-old son fall for the ice cream man's ploy.)
The series premieres this Sunday at 7 p.m. In the coming weeks, staged scenarios will involve driving while texting or while under the influence, cheating in school and discriminating against kids from different ethnic backgrounds. All of which are pretty terrifying for a parent to contemplate ...
But this Sunday's episode will hit parents of young kids the hardest, in my opinion. Which is a good, if unpleasant, thing -- clearly we all need to re-evaluate what we're teaching our kids about "stranger danger" and how to stay safe.
Even Natalie Morales.
Will you watch Dateline's "My Kid Would Never Do That?"
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Comments 14
this is one of my biggest fears. I will definitely be watching
It scares me how sure I am that I would have fallen for each and every one of these situations as a kid...
I want to try to teach my kids to go with their gut instead of "stranger danger". Some adults are trustworthy, and your natrual instinct can tell you who those are. If my child is in danger or hurt, I would rather them find an adult they feel they can trust then suffer, scared because everyone surrounding them is a stranger.
I'll totally be watching. Many years ago Oprah did an episode like this but it involved adults. Grown women were getting into stranger's vans at the mall with their daughters because the guy said we was a model scout/photographer, people were handing over their ATM cards and PINs to random guys just because they were in bank security guard outfits, it was nuts. We teach our kids about the dangers of obvious creeps but creeps are much smarter than we give them credit for.
Its s huge fear of mine I love my babies would want nothing to happen to them..... I think I will have to watch it online no cable in the house.......