When our children are tiny, we spend hours and plenty of money on child-proofing the house. We do not leave their side so that we can try to protect them from every little bump, bang, and bounce. We take every possible step that we can to protect them and keep them safer. However, as much as we would like to and we try to, we cannot wrap our children in cotton wool and keep them safe all of the time.
What we need to do is to teach them the skills to keep themselves safe, and make sure the child-proofing is extended to make sure that our home and our lifestyle is as secure as possible – not just from bumps and bangs, but also from break-ins and other dangers. In this article, we are going to look at some of the things that you can do to keep you and your family safe from harm.
Helping your kids stay safe at home
There are a lot of practical things we can teach our children from a young age to do to be safe at home. However, it is most important not only to teach your children, but also to show them what each of these actions looks like, and then to practice it over and over again before your child can do it alone. Role-playing the following scenarios on a regular basis is a good way of making sure that, should the unexpected happen, they know how to deal with it effectively and safely:
- Teach them not to open the front door. The only exceptions to this may be to their other parent or grandparents unless there are circumstances that make this dangerous. Ring smart device installation can put your mind at ease, so you know when someone is at your door and who is there. Remember to take into account things like pets or younger children as well – if they opened the door to their grandparents, is there a chance of the dog or a speedy toddler getting out unnoticed? One way of dealing with this is to encourage your children to knock on the window and wave to acknowledge that they have seen the visitor before coming to find you.
- Teach your child their full name, address, and telephone number from an early age. If they were to get lost while out and about, they can find a responsible adult and get them to contact you or someone at home, and if there was an accident at home and you were not able to call the emergency services, they can give them the details and save the valuable searching time.
- Teach your child how to call the emergency services in the country that you live in. Show them how to ask for the right service, and to tell them what has happened and their details. However, it is also essential to make them aware of the dangers and consequences of calling the emergency services when they are not needed.
- Create a ‘favorites’ list for your husband or wife or partner and one or two immediate family members (or trusted friends) on your cell phone and teach your child how to locate and call them.
- Create a special family code word that can only be given to family members or trusted friends for your children in your absence. Teach your kids that they are never to leave with someone who does not or will not say the secret code. The word is meant to remain a secret and to change if others know it.
- Teach your children about the power of their gut instinct and how they should trust it. If something does not seem right or feel right, it probably isn’t. Explain to them that sometimes adults will make them feel uncomfortable and that it is always acceptable for them to walk away or leave immediately, and tell a trusted adult what happened. It is vital that your children know that you will always help and encourage them and that you will never be upset by them trying to keep themselves safe, even if they get it wrong on occasion.
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Keeping your house safe
Your home should be your castle – impenetrable to anyone who is not invited in. Sadly, that is always not the case, and intruders can, and occasionally do, break the boundaries and get into your private space. While the most professional of burglars will always find a way in, there are things that you can do to make it a lot more difficult for them.
- Make it look like there is someone in at all times. Leave a light on and the TV on when you go out, and a pair of shoes by the front door.
- Get a dog. This is obviously not something that everyone can do, but a dog can dramatically reduce the chances of some breaking in, or at least getting very far if they do try their luck. If nothing else, put up a ‘beware of the dog’ sign – they won’t know any better!
- Get to know your neighbors. Good neighbors will provide an extra set of eyes, particularly if you are on holiday. They will notice any unusual activity and can do things like put out your bins or clear your mailbox.
- Keep all of the bushes and trees around your property trimmed and cut back so that you are not inadvertently providing any would-be burglars with a place to hide out.
- Before you go out or go to bed, check that all of your windows and doors are closed and locked. Even when you are at home, keep any external doors locked.
- Make sure that all of your windows and doors are well maintained at the first sign of any breakage or weakness, have them repaired or replaced.
- Avoid putting spare keys in obvious places such as under rocks, doorstep mats, or in flower pots by your front door. If possible, leave a copy of your key with a neighbor that you get on well with and trust implicitly.
- Put a layer of security film on the interior side of the windows. This makes it much harder for someone to break the windows from the outside and prevents it from shattering and potentially causing you or someone in your house an injury.
- Make sure that paths, drives, and entryways to your house are well lit and install motion sensor detectors to the exterior of your home.
- Try to switch up your routine. If you leave the house at precisely the same time every day and return at the same time every day, someone who is watching your house will soon work out when you are not at home. If you can, pop back regularly, leave at different times, or ask a friend or neighbor to quickly check-in at random times in the day.
- If you are leaving your house and you suspect someone is watching, call out ‘goodbye’ to the inside of your home. They will think someone is remaining at home.
- Install CCTV. While it can’t stop someone from breaking in unless it continually monitored, a visible CCTV system may deter intruders, and if it doesn’t, it makes it easier to identify them and find out exactly what happened.
Traveling
When you are on vacation, your home is vulnerable. Anyone watching the house may realize that there is no one there, and this immediately raises the risk of a break-in. Here are some tips to mitigate this risk:
- Use timers on your lights both inside and out to come on at staggered times when you are not at home. This will fool anyone watching the house into thinking that there is someone in the house.
- When you go on holiday, invite your neighbors to park any additional cars on your driveway and pick up your mail.
- Turn your location services off on your mobile phone and avoid ‘checking in’ to places on social media. If the wrong people see that you are not t home, it can leave it very vulnerable.
Be prepared
Sadly, sometimes, even the best of protective measures cannot keep someone who is determined to get in from getting in, so it is essential to be prepared for if the worst should happen. This will help to reduce some of the stress.
- Keep a back up of your family photos. You can do this on an external hard drive and/or a cloud storage system such as Amazon Photos, Google Drive, or Dropbox, for a small fee.
- Take photographs of all of your valuable items such as jewelry and electronics, paying particular attention to any distinguishing marks such as scratches or dents. If you can, have them engraved and note down any serial numbers. This can help to identify and recover any stolen possessions.
There are plenty of things that you can do to keep your kids, your possessions, and your home safe.