Craigslist Controversy

During my mission to help eradicate our family’s debt incurred through student loans, credit cards and birthin’ babies, I recently posted several items for
sale on Craigslist.

But this morning’s headlines have given me cause to
pause:

“Craigslist Murder Suspect Charged in Minnesota”
“Man Charged in Craigslist Killing”
“Victim in Craigslist Murder Remembered for Warmth, Energy”

As I’ve ALWAYS been aware of Stranger Danger, when I sold the first item I posted within two hours I was immediately leery of the buyer. I swapped e-mails with the interested party and even googled her name to see if I could find a back-story. Everything seemed on the up & up. But that didn’t stop me from asking a coworker to go with me to “make the sell” the next day … “just in case.”

But, not wanting to succumb to the paranoia I’ve been plagued with all of my life, I ended up going alone. And felt brave in doing so.

I remember jokingly tossing a comment over my shoulder as I walked out of the office, “If I’m not back in 30 minutes, assume I’ve been abducted, maimed or murdered
and call the police.”

I now shudder at my stupidity.

While the sale of the floor nanny took all of 5 minutes in the parking lot of a Schlotzsky’s with the husband of the woman I’d been corresponding with, I realize now how easily things could have gone south.(I didn’t tell Chris about the sale before hand,hoping to surprise him with some fast cash. But the yay-factor of an unexpected $50 was immediately overshadowed by his raging anger when I told him I’d
gone alone to meet the buyer. It is truly unlike me to have been so stupid.)

But with the latest headlines touting the brutal murder of a young woman applying for a babysitting job she saw posted on Craigslist, I know I won’t make the same mistake twice. It sickens me that I am raising my son in a society where you have to second (and third and fourth) guess everyone. But that is,unfortunately, the world we live in.

But here’s the question: How do you instill the importance of being aware without creating a constant panic? I don’t want Cooper to be fearful of others or immediately
distrusting, but I do want him to grow up knowing that there are some bad apples that you have to watch out for — even when, at first glance, it appears they’re
coated in caramel.

-smell you later-
Coop’s Mom (aka Tessa)