School note about “suspicious approach” in Bunbury awakens parental fears

Police were called to a Bunbury primary school this week after a “suspicious approach” outside the school’s front gates. A mother called the police about 8.30am Monday after it’s believed a man grabbed her two kids by the arm and tried to take them. This brazen daylight abduction attempt was, thankfully, an unsuccessful one. The “mumma bear” got her cubs back in a matter of moments. The first I heard of the incident was in an email from the school about lunchtime the same day. The letter informed parents police had been called and steps were being taken. There was also a list of advice to give our children about keeping safe. Although designed to allay our concerns, reading the letter activated my mumma-bear fears. Normally I would’ve thought my fear reaction was due to spending my work days reading and writing about some of the worst parts of society. But I wasn’t the only who felt the Mumma-Hulk energy rising. The world has somehow been different ever since a little girl went missing from her tent near Carnarvon. In the safest State, in the safest country, in this pandemic-ridden world, a little girl was taken from her parents. Every night Cleo Smith was missing during October and November I found myself lingering a few seconds longer each time I kissed my kids goodnight. The last thing I would think before going to bed was that hopefully I would wake up to good news — hopefully the police would find Cleo that night. And then one night, they did. WA cried collective happy tears which were echoed around the globe. But other stories don’t have a happy ending. Kids go missing. Some are found, and some are not. There have been 328 abductions in WA since January 2007, according to WA Police figures — 15 in the last year alone — while 772 people are listed on the national Missing Persons Register. And it’s not the only “big bad” out there. A few weeks ago, an 11-year-old boy was allegedly sexually assaulted in a shopping centre bathroom, just metres from shoppers and schoolkids. It’s a shopping centre I go to regularly, a few kilometres from my kids’ school. It’s all too close to home. Add these together and stir in some global pandemic stress, and I know I’m not the only mumma bear who’s been more vigilant lately. Most parents I talk to say they’re listening to that “Spidey sense” a little more, holding their kids’ hands tighter, keeping them closer, not taking any chances. At the playground, the invisible cord that triggers a shrill “that’s far enough” seems to be only half as long now. In my younger days I ignored my gut instincts, worried I was being rude or judgmental, but it was always to my peril. My gut was proved right again and again, and by knowing I can trust my instincts, I can feel some sense of control in this mad world we live in. But this system is by no means perfect. One day I might get it wrong. One day there may be factors I couldn’t predict. My kids are my world, and heaven help the big bad wolf if this Mumma Hulk is ever fully activated. I can’t wrap my kids in cotton wool and hope nothing bad ever happens, much as I sometimes wish I could. All we can really do is hope.