'Hello little girl, do you want a lollipop?'
Last week, a 54-year-old was jailed 22 years for sodomising two nine-year-old boys he had chatted up at void decks in Yishun, luring them with offers of ice-cream and toys. Armed with sweets of her own, Mavis Toh chats up 30 children at neighbourhood playgrounds to see how wary children would be of a stranger 
-- ST PHOTO: MUGILAN RAJASEGERAN
DON'T talk to strangers and never take sweets from them - golden, life-saving rules, but Singapore children seem to have forgotten them.
It took me less than five minutes to strike up conversations with children, prising personal information out of them and even enticing some to take the sweets I offered.
It was the same story whether I was at void decks or playgrounds in Ang Mo Kio, Bishan, Toa Payoh, Yishun or Woodlands.
The fact that children open up so easily to a stranger is worrying given statistics that show more of them are being molested.
The 'stranger danger' message is constantly being drummed home, yet of the 30 children I approached, 19 talked to me. At least the others were savvy enough not to.
My offer of a Tic-Tac or Mentos was taken up by 15 without much persuasion and four even offered to walk with me to the nearest coffeeshop or MRT station when I asked for directions.
Once the children started talking, it was easy getting them to spill the beans on just about anything - names, ages, schools and even information about their home and parents.
And 13 of them seemed quite happy to tell me, a stranger, that they were all alone at home until a certain time when their parents returned.
Yet the danger to children is real. Last year, 416 fell prey to molesters, up from 396 in 2006.
Victims are usually contacted first at void decks and along HDB corridors. Most of the children I spotted playing outside were not accompanied by adults.
Rebecca, eight, was at an empty Bishan playground, still in her school uniform.
When I asked why she was alone, she replied in fluent English that both parents were at work and would not be home until 7pm. 'Sometimes, Mummy would call home to see if I've done my homework,' she said, pointing out her block and saying she lived on the eighth floor.
While she chewed on my sweets, I asked if she could walk me to the MRT, she agreed without hesitation.
At a Yishun playground, nine-year-old twins Eton and Sherleen, still in their school uniforms, were playing on the slide.
Eton said their parents were divorced and did not live in the neighbourhood. 'We live with my ah ma and she's working. We can go anywhere after school and no one will know,' he said.
The twins readily took up my offer of sweets and even gave me their grandma's number. When asked if they could walk me to the train station, Eton asked if I would go to the mall and 'see toys' instead.
At a Woodlands playground, nine-year-old Sean not only accepted sweets, but also offered to walk me to a coffeeshop nearby.
When asked why he was not wary of me, he said: 'You don't have tattoos or dyed hair; you look decent.'
When I asked for phone numbers, most children refused, fearing that I would ring their parents. But two gave mobile phone numbers.
Reverend Sam Kuna, executive director of Teen Challenge, said children divulge information to strangers because they can't discern right from wrong. 'They...can't tell who has their interests at heart,' he said.
But there were also sharper ones. When I asked for their names and ages, they demanded to know who I was and why I wanted to know so much. One even shouted 'I don't know you' and ran away.
Counsellor Evelyn Lai, Dreams@Kolam Ayer, said that in these days of lax parental supervision, many children 'loiter quite a bit' and are 'used to talking to strangers'.
'There should always be some adult supervision,' she added. 'Even if both parents are working, get an elderly relative or neighbour to watch out for your child.'
Housewife Catherine Ng, 44, agrees. The mother of two always accompanies her children, aged six and eight, to the playground and warns them about strangers.
'I tell them, shout 'He's not my father' if a stranger approaches. Sometimes it's just a second of neglect and you could regret it for your whole life.'
http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Sto...ry_200597.html 
'Hello little girl, do you want a lollipop?' 
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