Safety Awareness

How are you teaching your child to be safe, whether it is around traffic, water, strangers, or some other area? Are there situations where you have seen your child show he can handle himself well, or things you are still working on?


Younger Years:

Provide a safe environment for your child. That means making your house safe for your child and safe from your child. Children are curious and it is your job to promote safety in the house and out of the house. It is much easier to do this by getting down to their eye level and see things from their perspective. Look for things that are not safe and make adjustments and child proof your home, car, etc. Introduce safety using books and during every day activities so children will understand what they are to do to be safe and how to handle themselves under certain circumstances.



There are many websites about this subject. Here are a few of my favorites:

What You Can Do To Protect Your Child- provides facts and figures on child abduction, discussion tips, parenting tips, and simple and colorful lists of rules for younger and older children. Start at the introduction, click through the information, and choose what you want to use.

The New Safety Rules for Kids- Some excellent advice from TIME magazine.

Talk With Your Child About Sensitive Issues- provides conversation starters about safety and other hard-to-talk-about issues.

The FBI’s Safety Tips for Abduction- provides simple rules and suggestions.

Teaching Kids Safety- Great tips about teaching your child about safety.

Teaching Safety to Kids- Security tips for home and school.

Teaching Kids About Internet Safety

Top 10 Tips for Teaching Kids About Fire Safety

Splash Zone USA- Pools and hot tub safety for kids with puzzles, games, and contests.

Parenting tips: kids water safety- Great tips about teaching your child about water safty.

Teaching Children About Traffic Safety

Teaching kids how to cross the street: traffic safety

Playground Safety- Scroll down to: Teaching Kids About Playground Safety




College:

The college student should know and understand dangerous situations and strategies for staying safe. Discuss a general strategy of what to do in any situation.

Situations might include:

• Safety at night (stay near groups of people rather than walking alone, staying near lit areas, and avoiding dark parking lots, garages, alleys, etc.).

• Safety in dorms (keeping your dorm room locked, finding out who is at the door before opening it, how to keep your things safe, not giving out personal information to others, etc.).

• Safety when riding a bus, train, or subway.

• Procedure to follow if there is an emergency (who to contact when an emergency happens, phone numbers of who to call, etc.)



*Safety awareness continues for everyone throughout their lives. I constantly learn new ways about how to protect myself via TV and the internet. It is amazing how creative and sneaky some people can be to try to steal things and harm you and your family.