| Thursday, Sep. 9, 2010
Safety Skills for Children
- Rehearse with children their full name, address and phone number (including Area Code) and how to make emergency phone calls from home and public phones. Always keep a current photo and physical description of your children and what they are wearing each day.
- Walk the neighborhood with your children. Show them safe places they can go in an emergency, like a neighbor’s house or an open store.
- Tell children never to accept gifts or rides from someone they don’t know well.
- Teach children to go to a store clerk or security guard and ask for help if you become separated in a store or shopping mall. Tell them never to go into the parking lot alone.
- Always accompany your children to public restrooms.
- Teach children that no one, not even somebody they know, has the right to touch them in a way that makes them feel uncomfortable. Tell them they have the right to say no, to an adult in this situation and to tell someone they trust later.
- Make sure children take the safest route to school and friends houses. You should walk these routes together. Encourage your children to walk and play with friends, not alone, and to stay in well-lighted, open areas where others can see them.
- Teach your children to walk confidently and stay alert to what’s going on around them.. Avoid spots like alleys, construction sites and wooded areas.
- Teach your children to stay away from strangers who hang around playgrounds, public restrooms and empty buildings.
- Make sure your children write down and report to you the license numbers and descriptions of people who offer rides, loiter around playgrounds or appear to follow them.
- Make sure your children can reach you or a responsible adult by telephone whenever you are not home. Post important and emergency numbers near each telephone. Teach them to call police to report suspicious activity.
- Have your children check in with you at work or a neighbor when they get home. Agree on rules for having friends over and going to someone else’s house when no adult is present.
- Work out an escape plan in case of fire. Teach your children about smoke alarms, how to recognize the sound and what to do if they go off.
- Teach your children never to open the door to a stranger when they are home alone. Caution them about answering the phone, not saying they are alone and what to do if they receive obscene calls.
- Make sure children know how to operate door and window locks and to use them when they are home alone.
- Explain to children that a stranger is anyone they do not know well. A stranger can be well-dressed or poorly dressed, young or old, and pretty or ugly. Tell them to run away, scream and go to a place where there are other people if a stranger tries to grab them or follow them.
- Teach your children about touches that are appropriate and ones that make them feel uneasy. Stress that they should always talk to you about anyone who touches them in a bad way.
- When children are going someplace, know their route and destination and have them check in with you when they arrive.
- Know the full names, addresses and telephone number of your child’s friends and playmates. Talk with you children daily about how things are going…communicate!
- Choose day care centers wisely, investigate, learn about their programs, teachers and care givers, qualifications and philosophy of discipline.
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