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Sunday, June 8, 2008

Child Safety - What You Can Do

Family Moment Monday - Safety
I think I am a fairly laid back mom. I try not to keep myself up at night talking my husband's ear off about the day-to-day worries. I mean... I am not anal retentive when it comes to bathing every person who touches my daughter in Purell. I kept a reasonable amount of pillows around Lucy when she was trying to learn how to sit up; not the 20 million pillows that I wanted. Heck! I even forced myself not give the most simplest and stupid instructions to our first baby sitter; I tried to have faith that she wasn't completely incompetent.

I try to remind myself that even though things happen, children grow up safe and sound all the time, every day. Realistically, there are bound to be bruises, heartache, even stitches at times, that she will get sick, have hard days, and have to learn to handle things on her own..... and I am okay with that. In fact, I remind myself that those things are sometimes important in helping her learn how to grow up to be a self sufficient adult. I know that over time, in the future, she will need me less and handle more on her own. So, I try to keep myself in check now from becoming an overbearing mom, so I won't have to force my hand to let go when she really needs it. So, for the day to day items in life: the bruises, the bumps, the "I want my mommy NOW" scream, I keep myself in check and watch that I don't over do it. Those are the things I am laid back about, but the things I am not laid back about it, is the real safety. I care about kidnappers, fires, children knowing to stay away from poison. I worry about the cuts that WON'T heal, the moments where you can lose your child forever. I take these very seriously and find it very important to address these issues in your home and regularly.
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The best thing you can do for your children's safety is to talk with them about these situations. To sit down one night and talk about some house safety issues, strangers, and/or when to call for help. Explain to them what to do if there is a fire, if a stranger approaches them, or if a brother or sister is hurt and mommy and daddy aren't around. If you haven't already talked with your family about this and you don't know where to begin then here are a few suggestions and ideas that may help your family.

Fire

- What to do if there is a fire?
- What and where are the extinguishers.
-They understand 911.
-Not to grab personal items, make sure they understand they need to get out.
-If your family have items like window ladders or fire blankets, make sure all the children know where they are and how to use them. (if you don't have these items, you might want to get them)
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Strangers
- Do they know what a stranger is?
- That they shouldn't go with strangers
- Set up a special word to let the kids know if a person is a stranger or not (example - the special word is Bubbles and if someone comes to school to pick them up saying their mom sent them, the children know not to go with them unless they say "Bubbles")
- Do they know what to do if someone they don't know approaches them?
- What happens if they see someone else approached by a stranger.

House Safety

- Do they know where the first aids are? (do you have a good first aid?)
- Let the children know what neighbors they can turn to and get help from, if they are home when a situation occurs (Make sure you have someone close by that knows your children can come to them)
- Where the emergency numbers are
- What cleaning supplies are not to be touched (hopefully you have Mr. Yuck stickers or poison stickers on these items and they know what they mean)
- They can tell the difference between medicine and candy

These are just a few of the items that you can talk with your children about. Also remember to ask them questions to see if they understand what you are telling them, if they feel comfortable with it, and if there is anything else that they are curious or worried about. Hopefully, after talking with your children, there will come some piece of mind knowing that your children know how to be safe.

Don't Forget
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25 comments:

  1. Great post!

    As far as warning about strangers, b/c the statistics show that the kids are more likely to be abused by a family member, we've taken the focus off of strangers and put it on inappropriate behavior.

    Now, we still role play, but we'll pretend to be a friend or uncle, etc. and say the same things we used to say as "strangers." I think it's helped our kids realize that certain things are completely wrong regardless of how well they know the person.

    Excellent list, however.

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  2. Great points! My worry is the strangers - my daughter loves everyone and will run up to anyone and throw her hands up. She is too young to understand at this point (15 months) why that is not the best thing to do, but trust me, this will be a talk that we definitely have! I get chills just thinking of all the things that could happen to her...

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  3. What about people like me who worry everyday that as my husband works with immigrants in jail he's gonna be attached or will get hit by a metro or get sick. Any suggestions for pyschoworriers ? Ha.

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  4. Very nice list of suggestions. I'm about to start my Family Moment Monday post. I'll leave another comment if I get it finished. (Life is always uncertain, even during summer vacation.)

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  5. GOod tips and points you made there! I'm a freak with my kids. My son has heard about strangers and the "no touching" policy since he was 3. It happens too often in this world and it's so sad!

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  6. OK. I finished my "family moment Monday." Thanks for doing this. It's fun.

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  7. Great post...definitely things to talk about with your children! I credit my parents for having many, many talks with my brother and I about safety routes out the house, strangers, etc, etc. They did a great job.

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  8. Yep, I'm trying really hard to also not be "that" mom but it's hard, really really hard!
    This was a great post but I have a comment. You mentioned strangers but I know (from my old life as a Social Worker) that 98% of children are hurt by someone they know and not strangers. Stranger danger education is important but protecting your children from those they know is much more important - and harder.

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  9. that is a really good point. Talking about how people they know can hurt them also. To know that it is okay to say something to adult if they are acting inappropiate

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  10. I'm a worrier. I worry. We definitely have all those bases covered, and then some.

    I LOVE the pic of the kid in the bubble wrap!

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  11. What a great list! I know I sometimes worry too much about the little stuff and don't take care of all the important things like these.

    BTW, thanks for stopping by and saying hi!

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  12. It's such a tough tightrope walk, isn't it? Great advice, as always. I am trying to teach mine his phone number right now, which would be easier if we weren't on 10 digit dialing.

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  13. ♡ These are all my concerns too! Great post! We need to have another FHE to review!! :)

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  14. very important post and a great reminder!

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  15. Great post and advice..sometimes we just move along through our days and we don't think about the what if's.

    Thanks!

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  16. This is a great post! And a great reminder! A book we bought for my girls has helped a lot! So they know how to dial 911. It is a bit obnoxious and loud but it has really helped. We got it at Babies r us and its called Emergency 911. It takes the kids through different scenerios fire, someone hurt, it has a play phone on it that they are able to push buttons on (of course makes noises). It asks them there name what is wrong..etc.. My duaghter is 4 and she gets confused with the buttons, my 2 year old calls it ninety one. lol...anyways! good post!

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  17. Sometimes I think I've passed on safety knowledge to my children but then I realize I haven't. I just assumed they knew some things. So, sitting down and talking with them is THE best thing you can do. I agree. Role playing even. Great post!

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  18. Great post. Yes, the strangers are a big worry for me too, since my daughter is very sociable.

    Thanks for stopping by!

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  19. I highly recommend this book:

    Protecting the Gift: Keeping Children and Teenagers Safe (and Parents Sane)

    by Gavin DeBecker.

    It's freaky, but it helped me realize what things I should worry about --- and what things I shouldn't. For example, after reading the book I started trying to help my 2 (almost 3) year old be more confident interacting with strangers. I'd rather he know how to talk to strangers and "trust his gut" then be the meek, scardey cat kid that a freaky "stranger" would seek out as a potential victim.

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  20. Great things to keep in mind.

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  21. One of the hardest parts of being a mother is wanting to protect our children, and not always being able to.
    Good for you---thinking ahead for your daughter's safety as she grows older!
    My greatest fear is losing my children: kidnappers, tornadoes, fires, etc. But fear is not from the Lord. I constantly have to remind myself of that.

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  22. I just had the "stranger danger" talk with our 5 year old. I hate telling her not to trust the nice old man looking for the kitten because I don't want to scare her, but unfortunately, that's the person you need to worry about, not the scary looking guy. She handled it pretty well, actually.

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  23. Hey there thanks for leaving a comment on my blog. I like yours to!

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  24. I was having the fire talk with my kids. I asked them what they would do if they saw a fire outside of their bedroom and they couldn't go out. I asked them where they would go. They both said, the closet!!! Yikes. So glad we talked about NOT HIDING during a fire. Finding a window, etc.

    The stranger thing FREAKS me out more than ANYthing!

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