St. Petersburg, Florida -Even with the lifeguards at the public pool, Karen Stewart likes to keep an eye on her grandkids. And she says that eagle-eye doesn't blink at home either.
"Anything can happen, anything can happen," says Stewart from her chair at the Fossil Park pool. "I hate to say, the environment of today's world-you don't know what could happen."
The murder of eight-year-old Leiby Kletzky, who was abducted while walking home from camp through his Brooklyn neighborhood, once again has parents across the nation talking with their kids about safety and stranger danger.
Jay Turner, also at the pool, says his nine-year-old daughter Regan isn't allowed to stray far. "No, no, no. I don't let her go anywhere by herself, whatsoever. Not to the store, not to the bathroom inside the rec. center."
And Regan says the rules are pretty clear. "Don't talk to strangers. Don't go anywhere by yourself without asking permission," she says.
So when is it safe to let your kids branch out? Well, experts say there's no magic number. It depends on the maturity of your child, who their friends are and the general safety of your neighborhood.
"The only way to grow is to stretch and that means taking calculated risks," says Dr. Peter Gorski, a developmental-behavioral pediatrician with the Hillsborough County Children's Board. "Children at each stage of development have to learn what's in their best interest."
And Gorski says there are some common sense safety tips that parents need to talk about with their children repeatedly:
-Don't talk to strangers
-Don't go near a stranger in a car
-Know where to run to for help
-Looks don't count. Just because someone looks nice, doesn't mean they are.
As for how to raise kids, it is a personal choice. But news of a child murder tends to have adults leaning toward the side of safety. Stewart says, "I'd keep them in a bubble the way things are today."
Kathryn Bursch