How to Plan a Trick or Treating Route

Video Transcript

"Hi! I'm Karina Fraley for Expert Village and tonight I'm sharing some Halloween safety tips for trick or treating. If you have children that are old enough to go out by themselves, I think that it is very important that you plan a route for them to take. You can do a fun project. Make a fun project out of it. Break out some paper and pen and make maps. If you want to keep it a little simpler, then just be sure that you write down exactly what street your children are allowed to go on. If there are any houses that you want them to avoid, make sure that you make note of that. If you really don't feel comfortable with your child crossing the street, then feel free to tell them that they have to stay around the corner or around the block and not cross any streets. There are a lot of dangers that can happen out on Halloween night and going out trick or treating on your own is kind of a right of passage. You might want to present it to your child that way. This is a big responsibility. You get to go out on your own, but if you don't stick to the plan, you won't get to go out next time on your own. If for whatever reason your children don't come home at whatever time you agreed, it's really important that you go out and look for them. Again, so many things can go wrong. They could have gotten hurt, they could have gotten lost, they could have just gotten distracted at friend's house. It really isn't a night to take any sort of chances on your children's safety. Remember, plan your route, make sure your children understand it and the importance of sticking to it. Make sure that you also stay on schedule and stay on top of where your children are on Halloween night."