HOW TO KEEP YOUR CHILD SAFE

1. Prioritize your child.

“Every time you respond to your child’s cry of hunger or pain or discomfort, you raise a child who knows he’s being heard.” Children who feel heard and taken seriously are much more likely to stick up for themselves, fight back, and ask for help.
The best way to keep your kids from being abused by predators, bullied, using drugs, becoming sexually active before they’re ready — virtually every risk factor you can think of — is to maintain close relationships with them. Eat dinner together as many nights as you can. Make sure you have one on one time — unstructured (this isn’t for homework or reading to them), to see what bubbles up and help your child express emotions and problems — with EACH child EVERY day, preferably for at least 15 minutes. If you notice that your child is defiant or distant, make it your highest priority to re-connect.

2. Teach your child to cross the street.

It’s so automatic that we often don’t realise that children need to be taught to cross the street safely. When your child is young enough to hold your hand, stop every single time and announce “Let’s cross safely. First, check the signal — it shows the person walking, so we can cross. Now we look left, then right, left again. Any cars? Okay, now we can cross!” As your child gets a bit older, ask him to take charge of the ritual. By the time he can cross by himself, safe habits will be engrained. If you look at your phone while you cross a street, you are a terrible example to your child. Be sure once he’s old enough for a phone, he has the discipline to put it away while crossing the street.

3. Give your child the tools to prevent bullying.

Bullies prey on children whom they perceive to be vulnerable. The best way to keep children from being bullied is to make sure they have high self-esteem and strong relationships at home and with peers. Bullying behaviour often begins by “testing the waters” with a mean remark, to see if they can goad the child into hurt or upset. If your child is being bullied, role-play with him to stand up to a bully with quiet dignity and walk away. Kids need to be reassured that there is no shame in being frightened by a bully, walking away, or telling an adult and asking for help. Bullying situations can escalate, and saving face is less important than saving their life.

4. When your child goes to someone’s house on a play date, be sure you KNOW the family and watch your child for cues about what’s happened.
Get to know the parents at households where your child spends time. Talk to him about what goes on at his friends’ houses. Are the kids unsupervised on the computer? Is he allowed to stroll up to the store alone? Would he be able to recognise if his friend’s mother was drunk? Would he know what to do if his friend’s father touched him inappropriately? What if his friend suggested they look at porn or play a new “secret” game involving touching or sniffing markers?
Before your child plays at a new friend’s house, ask if they keep guns, and if so, how they are secured. Teach your children to leave any room and house immediately if a gun appears – loaded or not. It would be great if your child can say “I’m not allowed to be in a room with a gun,” but your child will be under tremendous social pressure at this moment, and that invites a discussion that your child will then get sucked into participating in. Any child old enough to be on his own at a playdate understands social lies and will be grateful for your permission to say something like “Oops, I just remembered I have a dentist appointment!”

5. Instead of teaching “Stranger Danger” teach kids to trust their instincts and stand up for themselves.

Teach your child that most people are okay, but few people out there who do bad things, and could hurt her. She must know that it is more important to stay safe and trust herself than to be polite or pleasant. It is okay for her to question, disobey, and even run away from someone whose behaviour makes her acutely uncomfortable. Predators give signals; your child just needs your support to trust herself in reading them. Teach your child what constitutes improper behaviour on the part of an adult. It is inappropriate for adult strangers to offer children treats or to ask them for directions. The child must be taught to walk away immediately or to fight back and shout “Help me! It is not my parent!” If she’s in a public place and gets worried, teach her to run to a mother with a child, who can generally be counted on to help.

6. Give your child the tools to prevent sexual abuse.

The statistics are that one out of every three girls will have suffered some unwanted sexual touching by the time she is sixteen. The stats for boys are almost as bad, one out of six. According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, someone, the child, knows and trusts usually perpetrates child molestations, so teaching “Stranger Danger” completely misses the point and does not protect children. Instead:

Teach Consent. If you want your child to stand up for herself in an abuse situation, she must be allowed to make her own decisions about who touches her body from an early age. Raise your child with the house rules that “We ask people before we touch their body” and “When someone says STOP!, we stop.” Don’t “steal” kisses or hugs if your child says no. Never force your child to be touched by a relative or friend if she doesn’t want contact. She must be respectful, and you can ask her to blow Grandpa a kiss instead of giving a hug, but she must be in charge of her own body.

TEACH your child that in your family, no one ever keeps secrets. Molesters usually begin “grooming” by seducing kids into complicity with mild secrets: “Don’t tell your mom I gave you candy.” Your child needs to know that anytime anyone asks her to keep a secret, she tells you immediately. I often hear that another child, older in years or experience, is the one who “teaches a secret game” to a child, with tragic results. Make sure your child knows he can tell you anything, and that you will love him no matter what he’s done.

EDUCATE. Teach your child that every part of her body covered with a swimsuit is private, belonging only to her. Teach your child that no one – no adult, no child, NO ONE – should ever touch her in ways that make her uncomfortable.

PROTECT. Don’t leave your child with anyone, even your boyfriend, unless you completely trust him. The good and bad news about abuse is that most of it, statistically, is not perpetrated by strangers. It happens at the hands of family members or the mother’s boyfriend. Almost all the rest is committed by trusted intimates such as coaches, religious leaders or teachers. Bad news? Yes, these are people your child trusts. But it’s good news because it’s a risk you can usually avoid if you trust your instincts and pay attention to your child. This is just one of the many reasons that stepparents should never be responsible for disciplining their partner’s children.

7. Every child should know how to SWIM.
And be sure your child knows NEVER to dive into water that she has not already personally established to be deep and safe. Since toddlers are most at risk of drowning, supervision is critical near pools or creeks, and of course, when a bathtub has water in it.

8. Make helmets NON-NEGOTIABLE for cycling, skating or skate-boarding.
They reduce the risk of brain injury by 90%.

9. Cars are dangerous.

If you are transporting a little one in the back of your car, train yourself to check the vehicle before you get out to be sure your child is out of the car, so you don’t space out and forget a sleeping child – horrible to even think about, I know, but we’re sleep-deprived parents. Every year, babies and toddlers die in cars because we go on autopilot. Train your child to buckle up. Teach her to get out of any vehicle immediately if the driver is drunk—roleplay with her what she can say to get out of the car and to a safe place. (Again, “I’m carsick! I’m going to throw up! Stop the car quick!” may not be strictly true, but will be a lot easier for your child to say than “You’re behaving erratically, and I think you may have been drinking. Please let me out of the car.”) Make sure that she knows she can always call you for a ride regardless of the situation.

Car accidents are the leading cause of death among teens. Once she starts driving, make sure she hears any personal stories you have about kids who’ve died in car accidents; that story could keep her alive. When you see a news story about an accident caused by a driver texting, discuss it at the dinner table. Admit that you’re tempted, too, but role model turning off your phone and putting it in your bag in the back seat. (Need directions? Pull off the road to check them.)

10. When your child begins using public transport, ease into it.

First, travel with him. Then, stay near him but let him travel “alone.” Then, let him travel with a friend. Roleplay like crazy: What happens if he and his friend get separated? What if someone pulls a knife and asks for his money?  What if his cell phone falls on the subway tracks? What if some guy stares at him and it gives him the creeps? Buy him a cell phone and have him call you before he gets on the bus and after he gets off. Be sure he doesn’t use his phone or other electronics en route; they make him a target.

11. The best way to keep your child safe is to help him develop good judgment.

There is no substitute for supervision and knowing what’s going on in your child’s life, but as your child becomes increasingly independent, he’ll need to be aware of his instincts about what’s safe, and follow them. Unfortunately, a teen’s brain is primed to be influenced by peers, so he can easily override that “still, small voice within” if all the other guys are doing something risky. Daredevil behaviour is bad enough in a six-year-old, but in a sixteen-year-old, it can be deadly. Help your child develop good judgment and social intelligence, so he can resist the lure of social pressure when he needs to.

12. Talk with your kids constantly – and listen more than you talk.

Listening keeps you connected and helps your child feel safe. But it also helps your child talk to you more, and when you get kids talking about something, they’re thinking about it. To introduce topics that will help your child feel, reflect, and develop good judgment. Ask questions, like:
* What do you worry about the most?
* If you got into considerable trouble, how do you think I would respond?
* What are the different kinds of courage? How do you define bravery?

Can we make this better? NO
But we can go out there and prevent it!!

Parenting programs play a major role in providing support and prevention.