[Sundae]

Not having childer myself, I can only respond in a practical way.
Note: this is not a criticism of more emotional responses, given that I'm not tw...

But yes, the best possible (legal) protection is to follow Glatt's advice.
We were scared of bushes by my Mum, when we used to run wild in the fields and farmlands that are now all houses hereabouts. Bad men would grab you and drag you into the bushes.
But on a practical level we were never to go out alone (except with the dog) and never, ever, ever take a lift from any man, not even a neighbour or a man we knew. Somehow I took this to mean Mr M, who lived two doors down. Years later I questioned Mum who was horrified, she only meant to warn us about men we might have met fleetingly, like random work colleagues of Dad, who he barely knew.

But yes, scream, shut, holler, bite, scratch and never believe anyone who says they won't hurt you if you're quiet. And if you're the one who's free, run screaming your head off to the nearest house but don't go inside or stop making a noise until there are plenty of people there.

Oddly, none of this advice ever scared or scarred me, but then I was brought up on a diet of quite horrific Public Safety films which featured children dying in appalling ways. And I had no concept of sex or molestation, so the Bad Men would probably have been drowning me in slurry or trying to make me cross a railway track.

Sadly I think grooming is they new Man in the Bushes. It was what snagged my niece into a pseudo-relationship with a man twice her age. NOT the father of her twins btw.
They lived next door to each other and it turns out he'd been paying her attention for years before anything physical happened. Which is so creepy, given that she was 15 when it all came out.

Must be a real worry for you though Foot.