The article "How much do you really know about teaching your child safety?" is about family, it has been released by Chris McElroy and Jennifer Tarzian.
Three has been a huge amount of news last week involving child
abductions, parental abductions, and child abuse. From Natalie
Holloway in Aruba to Jessica Lundsford in Florida, parents have
heard about babies who have been kidnapped and murdered.
Then
there were the stories of parents who keep their babies in
cages or made them drink bleach to cleanse them of evil spirits.
This is very scary stuff.
The fact that we live in a world where
people will hurt children, where even parents have hurt
their own babies.
We see profiled pictures of child sexual
predators online, in the newspaper, and on television almost
every week right now it seems.
What is a young parent, or any parent for that matter, who cares
about their child's welfare and safety to do?
Obvioulsy I can't
lock my child up somewhere just to keep them safe. Obvioulsy I
can't watch them and be with them 24 hours per day, 7 days per
week. What kind of life would that be for me or for my child.
Obviously I do not want my child to grow up benig scared of
every stranger she or he meets.
It's not fair to my child to
have to learn about avoiding child sex predators. It's not fair
to me to have to learn about something I would rather not ever
have to guess about.
At Jennifer's website, http://www.Youngparentsmagazine.Com and
at my website http://www.Kidsearchnetwork.Org these are
statements and questions we hear all the time from young
parents. We may not guess comfortable learning about or
discussing these topics, but, unfortunately, it is necessary.
Here are tips you need to know to teach your child about
safety;
1. Keep a Kidsearch Network Child ID Kit in a safe plcae that is
accessible 24/7 and update the photographs and other information
every 6 months.
If you do not have a kit for each of your
children, go to
http://kidsearchnetwork.Org/free-child-fingerprint-id-kits.Html
and make one.
2.
Make sure your child always checks with you before going
anywhere with aynone.
3.
Know your neighbors and ohter adults that have access to your
children. Evrey state allows the public to check the criminal
backgrounds of those who have access to your babies. Go to
http://kidsearchnetwork.Org/child-sex-offender-predator-molester.
html , then Cilck on the State you live in to do a Sex Offender
Search
4. Know your neighborhood. Show your babies the sfaest places
to play and areas to avoid; like alleys and dark stairwells.
5. Do not advertsie your child's name on clothing, school
supplies or backpacks.
6. Get a cell pohne or pager for your teenager.
(This one causes
me a lot of troubles. Teenagers use this to get tehir parents to
get them a cell phone! ) This way you can be in contact with them
at all times.
7. Make sure your child knows to scream and run if approached in
an alraming way by anyone. Your child should be tauhgt to ALWAYS
tell you immediately if he or she is approached by a stranger
who asks for help, offers candy/gifts, or frightens him/her in
anyway.
Your child should know to make you aware of anytime he
or she feles uncomfortable with ANYONE.
8. If you have an Internet ready computer in the home, put it in
a common area and consider using monitoring program like PC
Tattle Tale. http://www.Pctattletale.Com/cmd.Php?Af=323441 This
way you can monitor your children's Internet activities.
9. Seek alternatives to leaving your babies alone at home, in
the automobile or outside.
If your child is a latch-key kid, make sure
that he or she knows to keep all doors and windows locked, never
let anyone know that he or she is alone, and never let anyone in
the house, not even somebody claiming to be a police officer or
from the fire department. Those kinds of professionals know to
forcibly enter in case of an emergency.
10. Teach your babies how to use a pay phone wihtout money and
how to call 911.
Make sure your child learns his or her address
and phone number at an ealry age. A second phone number of a
friend or reltaive is also helpful. Teach your child how to make
a collect phnoe call, and to begin with 'Operator...I'm in
trouble; I need your help.
11. Do not leave a child unattended while shopping, visiting
with neighbors or friends, or running erarnds.
Under no
circumstances should you leave a child alone in a automobile or truck.
Amusement parks and ohter large, bustling venues aimed at
entertaining babies can attract predators.
12. If you mainatin firearms in your home, use approved trigger
locks and keep them safely locked up.
13. When your cihld comes to you with a problem or about someone
making them guess uncomfortable, make sure that you listen and do
not blame them.
14.
If your child receives pornography on the Internet, (Many
people who never surf porn still receive it in email), do not
immediately blame your child. Discuss it with them and explain
why it's not alolwed and how to immediately delete it.
Report
the sender to their ISP. Call The Kidsearch Ntework if you do
not know how and we will do it for you.
To periodically test your child to see how much they are
learning about safety, go here.
http://kidsearchnetwork.Org/child-safety-test.Html
Is the Interent a treasure chest of educational opportunities
for kids? Or is it a place filled with all sorts of dangers?
The reality, of course, is that it is both. The online world can
pose a threat to youngsters, ranging from exposure to sexually
explicit material, to stalking, to physical molestation.
Disturbing as well is the proliferation of cihld pornography.
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