child safety tips

Many of us would have gone through our childhood without encountering too many dangerous situations and without ever having been in a situation where an adult posed some type of threat. Many children today will have the same experience too as they grow up and mature. However, in a fast moving society, making ever increasing demands on adults, the opportunity to afford your child the same degree of parental supervision you had may not be the same. So it is more important now than ever before that children know how to identify potentially dangerous situations and how to get out of them.

Self protection for children must be taught; it is not instinctive. As a concerned parent or carer you can take these steps to make your child safer:

Teach children

• Never to accept a ride from someone who is not known or someone who they feel unable to trust, regardless of whether it is a man or a woman
• To refuse gifts from someone who is not known or someone they feel unable to trust. Children are easily enticed by sweets or other 'treats'
• To run away from someone who is not known or someone they feel unable to trust who touches them
• To stay away from car doors if they are asked directions by a driver
• Not to answer remarks from someone who is not known or someone they feel unable to trust, but rather to keep walking
• Not to go into public toilets alone if it can be avoided. A child should be accompanied by a parent or carer
• To report odd or unusual behaviour by an adult, to a school teacher or to you
• Remember that police officers are there to help.

Teach your children to stay out of reach, be ready to move and be relaxed. Be aware! Assess danger!

As a parent or carer

• Don't allow your children to attend films, sporting events etc without proper adult supervision
• Don't allow your children to roam the street by themselves or to be out alone at night
• Be sure to always know when your children go out without you. Know where they are going, how they will get there, who they will be going with, when they will be back and, of course the address and telephone number of the place where they will be
• Be sure to give your children's school, scouts leaders, youth workers etc a list of the people who are allowed to pick them up. Also list the names of anyone known to the children who are not permitted to pick them up
• Walk through your neighbourhood to identify problem areas. Draw a child's safety map of your neighbourhood. On it indicate safe and unsafe places and advise your children to steer clear of danger zones. On the map point out problem areas such as vacant and abandoned properties (dangerous people may use them), a street or an alley with poor lighting, vacant building sites (bully teenagers and/or dangerous people may hang out there), unfamiliar courtyards (you do not know who is there), construction sites, ditches etc. Now, clearly mark the safest routes your children may use to reach school,
• a friend's house, the local store, park etc.
• Teach your children to adopt the 'buddy system'.
• It is much safer to walk in groups than alone
• Remind your children never to wear their names on any visible item such as a name tag, clothing, a school bag etc. When marking items for personal identification, make sure it is done on the inside of the item. Strangers should never be able to attract your children's attention by addressing them by name
• When going shopping, keep your children by your side at all times. Some shopping centres and some department stores provide registered child-care facilities. Before leaving your child in their care, please check them out. Also check up on your children periodically to make sure that they are all right
• Always hold your child's hand in a crowd
• Should your children be requested to sell in order to raise funds for a worthy cause please assure their safety first. You may:
  • Accompany them
  • Suggest they contact friends, neighbours and family by phone
  • Do their selling for them in your workplace and among friends and neighbours and family. It is common practice and most adults are accustomed to being approached by a parent or grandparent on behalf of their children and grandchildren.
• On occasions, such as Halloween, suggest that your children give a party at home or go to a party at a friend's home. If they insist upon 'trick or treating' then:
  • Go with them or make sure that they are accompanied by their friend's parents or carers
  • Make sure that they are back at home after dark
  • Offer to take some of their friends with you with the approval of their parents or carers
  • Always walk in a large group: The larger the better.
• A child who is frightened or in danger or who has had an accident should, if at all possible, seek the assistance of a police officer
• Be sure baby-sitters are selected carefully. A sitter should be reliable, intelligent and mature enough to be able to cope with an emergency and follow the same safety precautions you do. Be sure to leave the telephone number of a reliable neighbour or friend, in case of emergency.

Facts you should know to safeguard your children

• Child molesters are very often friends of the family or even blood relatives
• Boys are just as likely to be molested as girls
• Most sexual offences occur between 8 and 11 am and 4 and 7 p.m.
• Drunks are not generally interested in molesting children
• Children are in greatest danger of being molested in public parks, empty buildings, public toilets, dark alleys and empty streets.

Rate how streetwise your child is in three minutes!

For each of the questions below rate your child's knowledge and safety skills from 'very weak' to 'very strong'. Carefully consider the answer to each question before answering. You may wish to discuss some of these issues with your child first.

• Does your child know how to recognise the lures made by 'tricky' people?
• Does your child know how and when to say 'no' to an older person?
• Does your child know which 'strangers' to ask for help if she or he is lost?
• Does your child know that an adult asking for directions could be a sign of danger?
• Does your child know how and what to yell in a dangerous situation?
• Does your child know to tell you if an older person asks her or him Does your child know the proper way to ask for help when making a 999 emergency telephone call?

Produced in association with Downham Pride. We also acknowledge the co-operation of the Delaware State Education Association in compiling this information.