In today’s world children need to gain a sense of personal safety and security. Unfortunately, there is another story of a missing child reported almost daily. Our sense of security is being assaulted and sometimes we are tempted to believe we should be defensive and fearful. Should we always keep ourselves on guard? If we do, isn’t it terrible if we live in constant anxiety? Always living in fear is much worse than the many minor traumas we may eventually have to face. There is a way to give our children a sense of security in what appears to be an insecure world.
Our children don’t have to hide at home to feel secure. We can live with the awareness of the crime and danger around us without becoming afraid or mistrustful. As a parent and/or legal guardian there are ways to educate our children to take reasonable precautions. Being good role models will entail modifying some of our habits. This means if we’re trying to educate our children on safety tips then we must practice them ourselves. For example, we should not walk alone on deserted streets, or be out alone late at night. Also, we should not give rides to hitchhikers or strangers. Our children do pay attention to what we do. Actions always speak louder than what we say. So when we teach our children preventative measures, we as adults must also live with them also.
As a parent, safety education for yourself and your children is your responsibility. The best protection we can give ourselves is the education of how to recognize dangerous situations or potentially dangerous people. Part of that education is also learning how to avoid those situations and how to react in the safest manor possible.
We know that fire drills are important and fire drills are practiced regularly in our school systems. Our children are taught when a fire alarm goes off, that they should form a line and walk calmly out of the building. The need to frighten children about the gory details of what could happen in a fire is eliminated. So too, when educating our children on stranger safety the danger can be avoided. No one ever objects to fire drills on the grounds it may scare children. All safety talks must emphasize what children should do to protect them and avoid the bad things that could happen to them.
If you’re going to educate yourselves on this subject then find a program that has been proven to work.
