May 18, 2012

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How to Keep Children Safe in Public Places

Have you ever been out in a crowded place, turned your back for just a moment and then realized that you had no idea where your child was? This happens all too often with many parents. Knowing how to keep your kids safe in a public place and teaching them is one of the most important things you will ever do for them. The three steps rule is a great rule to have. This is telling kids that they cannot be more than three steps away from their parents at all times. When going out in public, it is a great idea to dress your kid’s in bright or distinctive clothing. Make sure that your kids know who a safe stranger is in case they get separated from you. For a child that likes to run off, using a harness can give the parent peace of mind when in a crowded setting. Make sure that your kids know your name, phone number, and home address in case of separation. If the child is too young to remember, then write down the information on some paper and place it in their pocket.

Teach your child to always check with you first before going to another area such as a restroom or play area. Make sure that your child knows to call attention to himself in an emergency situation with a yell or a loud word such as “Stop!” Always take your child into the restroom with you or if they are old enough to enter the restroom themselves, then always stay outside the door and check in with them. Never send a child into an area such as an arcade or play area unattended while you shop. Finally, discuss safety issues with your child that are appropriate in a calm manner.

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Keeping Children Safe on the Playground

Combination playground equipment (plastic)
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When I was in school. I remember an instance of a boy in afterschool care getting his head stuck between some monkey bars and suffocating. Two main points of playground safety are missing in this tragedy. He wasn’t being supervised properly and his parents or guardian had not gone over playground safety tips with him. There are a few main ideas to keep your child safe when playing in the park or on the playground.

First and foremost, as much as you may want to let your child run free on the playground, you need to keep them closely supervised. You or another adult that you trust, should always be there to look for any potential hazards or alleviate any problems. The child should always be dressed appropriately for the weather. If it is going to be cold then warm up later, dress the child in layers so they do not get overheated. Protect the child from the sun by using the appropriate SPF sunscreen. There is nothing like a bad burn to ruin an outing in the park. Always keep your eye out for dangers such as insects and wildlife, equipment being in proper working order, and loose nails or other miscellaneous items. Go over playground safety with your child so they know it is not acceptable for things like horseplay to occur. They should be schooled on the proper use of equipment and how to take turns and share. Good playground behaviour will make it a pleasant experience for everyone. Children also need to know to always be observant about their surroundings. They should observe the “Check First” rule before leaving your sight. This means that the child should check with you first before moving to a different area or using the public restroom. These points should help in keeping your child safe in the park or on the playground.

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Internet Safety for Children

The internet is a great resource for school age children. They can use it to find information for school reports, keep in touch with friends and family, and play educational games. The problem is that it’s also easy for children to frolic about various websites unsupervised. Even when you’re in the room, unless you’re watching over their shoulder the entire time your child is on the computer, there’s ample opportunity for them to run across a page with inappropriate content, or accidentally give out personal information.

You can’t rely on software to supervise your kids. Yes, there are monitoring programs out there, but they don’t restrict which websites are visited or record what activity happened on those website. All they do is give you a list, after the fact, or where your child went.

Check the sites your kids visit. Play the games and try to interact with anyone who is logged in. If you don’t like that site restrict it, and find a safe alternative. There are a number of children’s gaming sites that don’t have a chat option, or limit player interaction.

If there are only a handful of sites you want your child to visit, you can program them into your browser’s bookmark menu and hide the navigation bar. Remember, this is not a permanent solution and that it can be circumvented with a little bit of work.

Teach your child not to give out personal information of any sort. Kids don’t realize they’re giving a complete stranger information that could potentially be used to track them down. They’re just telling their friend about what happened at school.

It’s easy to spot the cliche suspicious-looking person in a van handing out candy, it’s not so easy to spot the same person in a chat room pretending to be a 9-year-old girl. By giving your child the tools they need to be safe online, you can breathe a little easier.

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Traveling with Small Children

Navigating through a busy airport is trouble enough without having to worry about a small child. Each age group has different needs, so as your child grows your traveling techniques need to change as well. With a bit of planning you can smoothly get from one destination to the next.

Before you leave, dress your child in a bright and easily identifiable top. Use your cell phone or camera to take a picture of your child, so if you are separated you have a current photo you can show authorities. If your child’s daycare or school hands out safety cards with a fingerprint and a current physical description then bring that along, too.

Keep your passports, flight itinerary, and any other identification on you at all times. These are the most important papers you have while traveling, so don’t lose them.

If you’re traveling with an infant, tuck your wallet and personal items into the diaper bag and use that as your carry on. Don’t let your baby crawl around the waiting area. Keep them on your lap or in your travel stroller, and don’t leave the stroller unattended.

Bring a coloring book or a favorite toy for your toddler, or a personal game system for your older child. Keep them entertained so they’ll be less likely to want to go exploring. Always hold hands while walking or in a crowd, and seat your child next to you. Take your child with you to the restroom, and share the same stall if you have to.

Pick out a spot to meet at if you are separated. If you can’t find your child, don’t wait. Go directly to security and give them a detailed description of your child, along with a copy of the photo you took earlier.

Traveling with children doesn’t have to be difficult. Make an emergency plan with your older child, keep a close eye on your younger child, and enjoy your flight.

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Securing Your Home from Inside

It’s a parent’s worst nightmare. You hear something strange on the baby monitor in the middle of the night so you get out of bed to go check on the kids. But when you get halfway down the hall you realize something’s not quite right, and rush into the baby’s room only to find the window’s open and the crib’s empty. Real life isn’t like television police dramas and there aren’t bad guys on every street corner waiting to kidnap your children, but it’s still important to take precautions and properly lock up your house. A little common sense can go a long way.

Start with the bedrooms. When at all possible, don’t put your children on the ground floor. If you live in a single storey home, put your children in rooms that face the street. Although your instincts may be to use the back bedrooms, people won’t usually break into a house where they can be easily spotted by passing traffic.

Lock the windows. You can purchase sliding window locks just about anywhere. If you can’t find any then place a wooden or metal rod in the window track.

Light the outside. Install a spotlight with a motion sensor and aim it towards your children’s bedroom windows. If someone is sneaking around outside they’ll activate the sensor and turn on the light.

Keep the outside doors locked and bolted when you’re home, and don’t let young children answer the door. Even if it’s just the pizza guy or the mail carrier, it’s dangerous to let your child go to the door alone.

Show your kids how to fight back. If someone does break in, teach your children to kick, bite and scream, no matter what the intruder tells them. Make sure they know it’s okay to dial 911 during an emergency.

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After School Safety

"Teacher Appreciation" featured phot...
Image via Wikipedia

We’ve all seen the after school specials about all the horrible stuff that happens to kids when they’re left alone. They join gangs and get into drugs, they break into houses and steal cars, they have unprotected sex and catch AIDS. All of this happens between the hours of 3 and 6 in the afternoon, and it all could have been avoided if only they weren’t a latchkey kid!

Yeah, uh huh. The problem with those kinds of shows is they focus on the unlikely dangers of leaving your teenager home alone and completely ignore the very probable dangers of putting your school age child in the care of an incompetent daycare provider.

When you have to put your child in an after school facility, do some research on it first. Drop by in the middle of the day and observe how the teachers interact with the children. Do an online search to see if you can find any problems. Ask your kid if they have any friends who attend that program and find out what they think about it. If everything checks out so far, go ahead and enroll your child.

After a few days find out how your kid feels about the program. When you go to pick them up, are they playing with the other kids or are they in a corner by themselves? Talk to the teachers to find out what your child’s typical behavior is.

Listen to them when they start to complain. Are they just bored, or is someone beginning to pick on them? If you child consistently complains about one kid or a group of kids, get as much information as you can before talking to the teacher. Ask them to monitor the children’s interactions. Be prepared to pull your child from the program if the situation doesn’t improve or if you feel not enough is being done to protect your child.

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