Things You'll Need:
- Communications Skills
- A camera
- A Plan
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Step 1
Keep safety a topic in your house. Communicate weekly with your children about safety. Talk about safety strategies using everyday events as a training tool.
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Step 2
Have a pickup password for your family. If you are unable to pickup your child and you ask a friend or family member to do it for you, either make sure to tell you child directly who will be picking them up or use a password the child must hear before the child can leave with another person. Tell your child to never go with anyone unless they talk to you first.
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Step 3
Know your neighbors. Know your community. Use your computer to find if sexual offenders are living nearby and be diligent around those you think are not safe. Know where the local police and fire station are located in your area.
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Step 4
Listen to your child. If your child feels uncomfortable around a certain person, do not force your child to spend time with that person. Trust your child’s instincts; they will need to use them all their lives. Trust your instincts too. Don’t discount that eerie feeling you get from the neighbor down the street, you just might be on to something.
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Step 5
Be aware what your child is doing on-line and who they are communicating with. This is a very difficult one as privacy is important for good communication. But again, trust your instincts. If something your child is doing does not feel safe to you, stop the behavior or discuss it. It is okay if they get mad at you, at least they are alive and safe.
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Step 6
If your child has a cell phone, don’t punish them by making them leave the house without it. It may be your only means of communicating with them should something happen. If you do need to make a cell phone restriction, take it away while in the house or while they are with you. (or just turn off their text messaging – they will definitely get the point). But if they are not with you, consider how you will get a hold of them if they don’t have cell phone with them.
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Step 7
Try to keep a record of their friend’s cell phone numbers as well. How many parents have heard “well my battery died so I did not know you were looking for me.”? Having their friend’s cell phone number and their friend’s parent’s phone number can be a great piece of mind when your kid is not answering their own phone.
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Step 8
Don’t allow sleepovers with children of any age if you are not comfortable with the parents or anyone else who lives in the home where the sleepover will be. Again, trust that little nagging voice in the back of your head. Safety is more important than peer pressure or popularity.
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Step 9
Be prepared and always have an updated photograph and description of your children. Set one day aside each month for Mug Shot Day. Put tape on the wall to mark their height, just like in a police line up. If you make it fun, they will stand there if for no other reason than to humor each other (and make faces at you.) Digital cameras are great for this as the photo can be enlarged very easily.
Comments
artistephoto said
on 11/19/2009 Thorough and IMPORTANT article - every family should read this one!
violet4me said
on 8/27/2009 Vital information to help prevent child abduction.
kaldrich88 said
on 8/12/2009 such an important article! 5*