Kidnapping. It's no doubt every parent's worst nightmare leaving many to teach their children about exactly what to do whenever they feel they are in danger.
Well, this was exactly the case for one particularly savvy child, when his quick-thinking allowed him to outsmart a potential 'kidnapper' after asking a cashier to pretend she was his mum in November last year.
Sammy Green, 10, from Pottstown, Pennsylvania, first became suspicious he was in danger when a woman began following him as he walked home from school.
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However, instead of attempting to run or potentially being frozen to the spot, the fourth grader went into his favourite shop and had the 17-year-old cashier pretend to be his mum - and it worked.
The whole thing was captured on surveillance cameras at Dani Bee Funky and shows the woman waiting outside for him as he goes in and whispers to cashier Hannah Daniels.
Sam Green, Sammy's dad, told WPVI that his son had told her that 'this lady is following me' and asked her to 'act like you're my mum'.
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Thankfully, the woman agreed without question and she walked up to the shop door where the woman was waiting, put her body up to it and locked it.
Sammy's father was understandably upset when he saw the footage.
"When we were watching that video, I cried every time I saw it," he said.
Sammy later explained that the woman began following him and tried to bribe him in an attempt to convince him to go with her.
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He told CBS Philadelphia that the woman claimed to know his family and said he had to come with her.
Sammy remembered: "She was like, 'I'm going to Wawa, are you going there? What are you getting from Wawa? Where's your family at?'"
Hannah said she offered for Sammy to wait in the back while she dealt with the woman, but he refused to leave her side.
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His dad said: "To see my child looking for help because he was afraid basically for his life, that cuts you deep."
While Sammy admits that he was 'shaking' when he went into the store, he credits his dad with teaching him what to do in an emergency situation like this one.
The dad then offered up his advice to any other parents, who want their children to be as savvy as Sammy was on the off chance.
He said: "Think of every scenario and make sure that children know and also practice it.
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"Practice your situations and scenarios just like fire drills."
The woman who followed Sammy was subsequently tracked down by the Pottstown Police Department and allegedly referred for psychiatric help, as reported by the Daily Mail.
Pottstown Police Department had no comment to add at the time.
Rhiannon Ingle