Parents will do everything to keep their children safe. One of the most important things is to prepare them for possibly dangerous situations. Here’s how to help make kids safer now and in the future.
Make Kids Safer With These Tips
Our children are precious. One of the great revelations is when you realize how weak and helpless a baby is. When you see how easily a toddler can be taken advantage of. There is no other creature that starts so helplessly and grows to wield such power.
As parents, it’s our duty to protect our kids.
In recent times, we have seen the children shot up by maniacs in schools and the nation seems remiss to put serious protections in place to assure it doesn’t happen again. Our kids need to be trained to be safe. They need to understand the threats that they face and how to avoid them.
We are going to discuss some simple things that you can do to prepare your kids for real life and assure they get home safe each night.
1. Teach Them How to Hide
Hide and seek is a great game for kids. They love it! As you can imagine, knowing how to hide effectively, this day and age are important for kids. However, you can take that idea and expand on it by playing a little game in your home.
Choose a word that fits the situation, this will be your code word and tell your kids when you say that word that they are to hide. Use a second code word to get them to come out. Explain to them that they can only come out of hiding when they hear that code word.
Play this game on a regular basis and then start calling out the codeword at random times. See if they react.
When you are looking to call them out of hiding be severe and raise your voice to see if you can get them to come out without using the code word. If they come out, they lose!
This game will prepare them to hide in your home if there is a true threat. It will also keep them locked up safe until you or your spouse call out the secret password. It’s a fun game and a great way to prepare kids for threat at home.
2. Be Wary of Strangers
Human trafficking is a booming business all around the world. Americans don’t like the thought of it but it’s booming here, too!
To these sick and demented people, the younger the “product” the better. That means your little boy or little girl. There is nothing sicker than human trafficking.
Your kids will be tested by strangers. They might be benign, or they might be the monsters we mentioned above.
Do your kids know what to do if someone comes up to them at school or in a park and says, “Come with me, your Mom is looking for you.”
Your kids have to understand that strangers, any strangers, are a threat. If they are approached by strangers, they should find the first adult they trust, family, friend, teacher or whoever they know who is around.
No matter what a stranger offers you have to drive home, the fact that you must return to the safety of Mom, Dad, Grandpa or whoever is the adult they know and trust.
The monsters are out there, and they are highly creative. They know what kids like and what they will hop in a car for or even just around the corner.
Talk to them, regularly about strangers and people offering them things, even inside a schoolhouse or church! Anywhere!
3. Give Them Important Information
If your child found themselves in an altercation with someone who was trying to grab them and they took off into the woods or into an alley, would they be able to find their way home?
If they ran to a police officer, would they know how to contact you?
Your children should know the following information or at least have a card hidden in a place on their body or in a backpack.
- Phone Number
- Address
- Mom and Dad’s Real Name
- Last Name
- Alternate Number for Emergency
- Any Life-Threatening Allergies
Quiz your kids on the way to school and get them up to par on this info. Start as young as you can and as young as they can retain it.
We like to think that we will always be there for our kids when they need us, but most of us are working a 9-5. That means your 40-50-hour workweek is 40-50 hours that your kid is far away from you.
They are in the protection of someone else you trust, but it’s not you. Things go wrong. Be prepared.
Preparing Them Is The Priority
These tips are for children of all ages. Don’t assume your teen is going to make the right decision in chaos.
Kids get scared and act on instinct. Start them as young as you can and then build them stronger and stronger over time.
My son, who is 4 years old, is already interested in learning to punch and kick on our heavy bag. He cannot hurt anyone, but we teach basics.
No matter the situation, understand that your child should act just like their parents. We assess risk and use awareness to keep a greater distance from trouble.
You are training this into your kids, too! Get them off the phone in public so they can pay attention.
Parents, when you have a plan you can take a breath. When your kids are trained you can at least depend on that.
How do you prepare the kids for dangerous situations? Share with us some tips in the comments section!
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