From: http://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/injuries.htm

Quote:
During the 144-year (1872-2014) history of Yellowstone National Park, eight people have been killed by bears in the park. More people in the park have died from drowning, burns (after falling into thermal pools), and suicide than have been killed by bears. To put it in perspective, the probability of being killed by a bear in the park (8 incidents) is only slightly higher than the probability of being struck and killed by lightning (5 incidents).


Reading through the list of the 8 fatalities none of them appear to be children. The more common M.O. is solo backpackers. Bears don't have much interest in messing with groups. They are not interested in messing with people at all, so if they know you are coming they will get out of your way. That is easy to do with young kids.

The one thing to realize about a bears sense of smell, is yes they can smell the crumbs, but that is underestimating just how good there sense of smell is. They can smell the crumbs AND tell it is just a couple crumbs.