10 SAFETY MEASURES AT HOME YOU SHOULD TEACH YOUR KIDS
Like with road safety, we should all strive to make our home a safe place for us and our kids. Parents or guardians are in a better position to ensure that the environment in our homes is safe.
Child safety at home, however, does not mean just having safety gadgets like a smoke detector or carbon monoxide detector fitted but also having a culture at home with certain key rules that promote child safety and reduce the risk of injury.
When babies are young and cannot do anything on their own, parents usually work tirelessly to ensure that little ones remain safe. However, there comes a time when they should be educated on safety.
Homes are unique and, for this reason, look for safety measures that are going to work for you. It is the responsibility of the parents to introduce the little ones to safety precautions from an early age.
By doing so, you are building a safe environment in your home. However, this does not mean that you cannot introduce safety measures to your kids at a later stage—not at all! What you will realize that you will have to be more patient with them as you introduce changes at home.
Why Is It Important To Teach Your Kids Various Safety Measures?
Understanding the importance of teaching your children safety measures at home will help you prioritize what should and shouldn’t be done. A safe home is a happy home and there is a need to ensure that no injuries occur. By inculcating various safety measures, you will not only have a home that is free from injury but also peace of mind.
Being away from the kids when you are not sure whether they are safe makes one stressed. Accidents at home are one of the leading causes of death among children. This can be significantly reduced by ensuring that everyone plays their role.
When there are no safety measures at home for the kids to adhere to, you will be forced to always be on their trail ensuring that they are doing the right thing. This will not only exhaust you but also contribute to bringing up kids who are not independent thinkers.
10 Safety Measures that You Should Teach Your Kids at Home
1. Teach Your Kids To Always Keep The Doors Closed
Closing the door after you should be your number one safety measure to introduce at home. This will not only ensure that intruders cannot access the house and also the younger kids cannot find their way out. Keeping the door closed will give you the confidence that your kids are well protected inside.
At the time when they are infants, it would have been easier to ensure their safety is maintained as there are numerous safety devices to use in the market. However, at an older age, they are able to understand the importance of safety measures you have taught them.
2. Ensure That Kids Know The Contact Information
You should ensure that your kids are aware of where to get help in case of an emergency. This is not only beneficial to the kids but also to the entire family. Sometimes, as a parent, you may be faced with a case of emergency and cannot contact anyone for help.
However, having the children understand how to use a cell phone and memorize emergency contacts will be really helpful to the family. In most homes, you will get a contact information sticker and place it on the fridge.
It is important to ensure that the child memorizes some of these emergency numbers. The emergency numbers are usually just four numbers making it easy for your child to memorize them.
For those who may not be able to memorize that information, just start by teaching them their full names, your names, and other basic information.
3. Teach The Kids Not To Trust Stranger Or Accept Gifts From Strangers
Teaching your child on how to not interact with people they don’t know or are not close to is a key safety rule that will help minimize cases of kidnapping or other dangers.
You may not always be there with your kid especially after they start school. The only thing you can do is to ensure that they understand ‘stranger danger’ and that they are not supposed to trust people they don’t know.
Moreover, despite how safe your neighborhood may be, you may not know where the danger lurks. Some children are very friendly and do not fear talking to people they don’t know.
Kids may fail to understand the seriousness of the situation and always find ways to make the child know how it is not safe. For instance, tell the child that if someone whom they don’t know says “mom asked me to take you somewhere,” the child should stay in the house and call the emergency number.
4. No Playing On The Road
Roads pose a challenge for our kids due to motorists. You may be tempted to think that roads in your neighborhood are safe but, trust me, there are not.
There is always motorist who is in a rush to reach who knows where and may not even consider that they are driving in a place with lots of kids playing.
Therefore, trust your instincts and always teach your kids to not to play on roads. Always ensure that children learn to play on a designated place (i.e. on the lawn).
If your house has a backyard, this should be the place where children play outdoors. However, if your house doesn’t have any space to play, then allow the kids to play close to the house.
5. Never Share Personal Information Online
The Internet is a craze that is not going anywhere anytime soon. In fact, this technology is only getting better and better each day. However, the Internet has its negative side and this includes cyberbullying and other crimes facilitated through the Internet.
Teenagers are fascinated by this technology and may spend a lot of their time there. As a parent, you should create awareness to the kids on the dangers that may lurk on the other side.
Safety measures should be aimed at ensuring your kids understand that they should not give out any personal information to an individual on the Internet.
6. Teach Your Children About Their Body
Incidences of children being sexually abused by strangers and even people they know is on the rise. It is good to ensure that the kids are aware of the dangers that surround them even at an early age.
Teaching children about their bodies early enough will also ensure that they do not get misguided information on the Internet. Moreover, this is a safety measure that will ensure your child is aware of how to carry themselves and how those around them should interact.
7. No Inviting Friends Over Without The Consent Of Parents Or Guardians
Peer pressure is something every parent dreads and the fact that it is from children of the same age group age your child makes it harder to deal with it.
You will not want your child to be introduced to vices under your roof and, therefore, ensure that you know your kid’s friends well. As a parent, it is your responsibility to ensure that your kids are interacting with a person who is not likely to introduce them to bad behaviors.
This safety measure will allow you as a parent to be able to gauge your kid’s friends in terms of how they talk and carry themselves around to determine whether they are a good influence on your kids.
8. No Accessing Certain Rooms Unsupervised
As your kids grow up, you may longer have to use safety devices such as baby gates. This is because they have already outgrown it. Most of these safety devices are designed for children less than 7 years.
Therefore, what you need to do as a parent is to teach your kids on what areas that they are not allowed to access. They are grown up and this means they will be able to understand the reason why you are telling them so. These rooms include the kitchen and laundry rooms.
9. Never To Take Anything Given To Them By People They Don’t Know
This is an important safety measure that the parents should teach their children. People with bad intentions may try win over a child’s affection by offering them gifts.
However, as a parent, always teach them that they should never accept any gifts that are offered to them by people they don’t know and instead decline it politely.
You should also teach the child to trust only a few family members, for instance, the parents, grandparents and other close family members.
10. Teach the children to stay away from dangerous products
Teaching your child to avoid certain dangerous items is a safety measure that you need to enforce. When the kids are old enough to distinguish what is dangerous and not, teach them the products they are not expected to handle by themselves.
For instance, despite your kids being older always ensure that, when they are sick, you supervise them when taking any medicine. Moreover, ensure that they don’t access medicine cabinets or drawers where knives are kept. By doing so, you are greatly minimizing the possibility of accidents occurring in your home.
Source: https://staysafe.org/10-safety-measures-at-home-you-should-teach-your-kids/
