Teaching Our Children to Be Safe

Losing a child is every parent’s worst nightmare. We have all heard about pedophiles lurking in chat rooms and parks, waiting to snatch our children when we are not looking.

We can’t keep our children with us at all times, and we can’t lock them in our house to protect them either. So what can we do? From the moment they can talk, we should teach our children about safety. They are never too young or too old to learn this.

But we should not only talk, we should always be ready to listen to them. How many times are we too busy to listen? Our children should feel that we are always there for them, always willing to listen to what they have to say, no matter how unimportant or terrible it may be. They should feel comfortable speaking to us.

Following are some very important things we should do to keep our children safe:

- Make sure your children know your phone number and address. If they are old enough, they should also learn your cell phone number.

- Teach your children about body boundaries. Your children should know that their body is off limits to other people. Teach them what is appropriate and what isn’t. Tell them that if they feel uncomfortable because of what someone is doing to them, they should tell the other person to stop and run to a safe place.

- You should know your children’s friends and their parents. If your children go to a friend’s house, make sure an adult will be there.

- Make sure your children follow the safety rules you make. It doesn’t matter how old they are, if you don’t want them in the mall after dark, for example, enforce the rule. They will probably complain, but they will also feel safe and know that you care about their safety.

- Use every opportunity you can to talk to your children about safety. Use examples from real life, maybe something from the newspaper. When you talk to them, make sure you don’t scare them because frightened children can’t react the way they should.

- Don’t make too much emphasis on their staying away from strangers. Your children should use the same safety rules for everyone. Children are hurt more often by people they know than by strangers.

- Teach your children that if someone does try to hurt them or abduct them, they should use this technique:

1. Scream: "I don’t know you! Get away from me!"

2. Jump, stomp, bite, and do whatever it takes to get away from that person’s grasp.

3. Run as fast as they can away from that person and toward other people.

- If your children use the internet, teach them not to give out any personal information such as their name, address, phone number, school, etc. They should never agree to meet an "online friend" without one of their parents being present.

More than anything, your children should know that you will always be there for them, looking after them and willing to help them when they have a problem, even if it involves a person you know and is close to you.

Source: http://www.healthguidance.org/authors/324/Jason-Ladock