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Most of the time kids are curious about everything and cautious about nothing.
There are numerous dangers around us every day that children just aren't aware of and it's important to give them lessons on those dangers and how they can avoid injuring themselves. Below you'll find 5 steps you can take to ensure that your children are aware of, and know how do deal with, potentially dangerous situations.
Strangers
Teach your children about strangers.
Not all strangers are dangerous, but they need to understand that there are people out there who would harm them.
Teach them never to get into a car with someone they don't recognise and also, if that someone tries to force them into the car, they should shout as loud as possible and run into a safe place.
A safe place should always be somewhere where there are multiple people to protect your children and witness what is happening.
Examples of safe places would be a grocery store, a library or a pharmacy.
The idea is that your child is not alone with one stranger, especially if that stranger is chasing them.
Teach them to explain to the people in the safe place that they have been chased by a strange person and that they do not know where their parents are.
If for some reason you cannot pick your children up from school, always inform the school ahead of time.
It can also be useful to give a secret family code word to your kids and the school, just in case someone familiar does need to collect them from school.
Photos and Information
It's important for you to always carry a photo of your children with you, just in case.
If they go missing for whatever reason showing a photo to the police can help immensely when they are trying to find your children.
Also giving them information like height, weight, skin and eye colours and any visible scars or birthmarks.
A good idea is to also have your kids carry around a photo and some basic information about you.
If they do become lost and someone finds and helps them, they could call the police and inform them of your details, speeding the search up immensely.
Emergency Calls
If your kids are able to call the emergency services no matter what happens can be vitally important.
Especially if you or your partner have had an accident at home and are unresponsive.
Teach your children the emergency numbers and how to make emergency calls.
It's important that your kids understand they must listen carefully to the operator on the line.
The operators are very good at being calm and exerting a calming influence on callers.
This is often critical in an emergency so be sure your children know that the person they call is trying to help and that they must do everything that person says.
As well as teaching them the numbers, try to keep a highly visible emergency number written down somewhere.
Scared children will often panic and it's important that they are able to remember and understand what to do in an emergency situation.
Once they understand how to make these calls, it's also pretty important to make them understand that they cannot call the emergency services for a broken or lost toy.
While it might be cute, it's also taking the time of the operator who could be dealing with a real and life threatening situation.
Review Your Exit Plan
It's also really important to teach your kids what to do and where to go in the event of an accident at home. For instance, in the case of a fire at your home, your children must know where and how to get out of the house and where they must meet you to ensure everyone's safety.
Practicing a fire drill every so often is a great way to help kids to remember and ensure that they'll know what to do in the event something does happen.
Chemicals
Teaching your kids to stay away from chemicals in your cupboards is a given, but it is also important to teach them why they need to stay away.
The types of chemicals we used in our homes are generally dangerous to human health so teaching your kids that using them for cleaning is okay, but make them understand that playing with or ingesting chemicals is going to do them serious harm.
The Safety of children is a responsibility that every adult on this planet is obliged to take on. It's important that we teach them how to be safe, not only when their parents are around, but also when they're momentarily alone.
It's also very important that you don't scare your children when teaching them how to be safe.
Being safe is one thing, but being scared of everything isn't good for anybody. If you're worried that you don't know enough about safety when it comes to the multitude of dangerous situations that could arise, especially with the chemicals in your home, you can take the new COSHH Risk Assessor Certification™.
