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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