My first and foremost advise to the kids was to not get into a position where a child predator could get them.

Sadly there is a neighbor lady who is often on the edge of sudden anxiety attacks. I now avoid her since she bursts into to tears at the drop of a hat. She warned us to not let our kids play in the front yard etc. Prior to my knowing her condition, I suggested that she should feel free to let her same aged son as Dean play together at our house whenever its convenient, she freaked out. It seems she subsequently inferred that I might be a child predator to other mothers in the neighborhood but was dismissed by most people who considered the source. I believe a stay at home dad faces more suspicion than a dozen openly negligent and abusive mothers, but that may just be how the gender gap works.

People are justifiably scared that predators are lurking everywhere but it seems to me the threat does not nearly equal that of traffic accidents.

There are websites that have local convicted sex offender addresses that can be checked but it seems to me that can be of little practical help. A sex offender released for only 2 days raped and murdered a boy in Gaithersburg a couple years back. The killer did not even have an address.