3 Tips for Teaching Your Kids to Be Safer When You Are Not Around

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Your children’s personal safety skill will keep them safe most of the time. Children are targets for assault, abduction, and abuse even from people they know and trust. The good news is that you can teach your children the skills to protect themselves under most circumstances.

Your children need to have clear rules for dealing with strangers and certain situations when they’re on their own. As a parent, you’ll need to ask questions and listen with respect and patience as your children respond. Talking is essential, but it’s not enough to ensure their safety. Younger children and teens learn best by participating, so entrusting them with essential skills will increase their confidence and competence when confronted with difficult situations.

Here are three tips for teaching your children to be safe when they’re on their own.

Talking to Your Kids About Strangers

Stranger danger is a topic that will increase anxiety for both you and your children. Instead of focusing on all the dreadful things that could happen, you should focus on teaching the skills needed to stay safe with strangers.

Make sure that you’re calm as you begin to address the topic of strangers because children will pick up your anxiety. Let them know that you believe most people are good but that there are a few people who might want to cause them harm.

Your children should understand that they won’t have to worry about strangers if they follow the safety rules you set for them. For instance, they should check with a trusted adult before talking to anyone they don’t know. Have your children come up with examples of strangers or people they don’t know well.

Teach Your Kids How to Respond To The Doorbell

Telling your children not to answer the door is never enough. You’ll probably have to conduct a few lessons to instill this habit. To start with, don’t ever ask your children to answer the door even if you’re within close range. They should understand that it’s never okay to answer the door even when it’s someone they know. So always have your children come get you to open the door.

You could enlist a neighbor to ring your doorbell to see how your child responds. Keep this up until he understands what you want him to do. Use locks as an extra layer of security to ensure that your children cannot open the door without your permission. Monitored security systems like the ones offered by sites such as www.quortek.com will help you to keep tabs on your kids when you’re not around.

Rules For Answering The Phone

Set up guidelines for the phone if you’re worried that your children will give out information that will put them at risk when you’re not around. Children shouldn’t answer the phone whenever it rings. Therefore, you should install caller ID and tell them to let the calls go to voicemail if they don’t recognize the number. They should never reveal your whereabouts, or that they’re home alone to someone over the phone.

These are just three simple tips to teach your children how to stay safe. Keep the lines of communication open so they’ll feel safe coming to you if something goes wrong.