Atlantic Star Safety

Safe Child -- How To Make Your Child One

Children need more attention than anyone else -- obviously -- and that's why focusing on what it takes to have a safe child is so important. Children are trusting, especially with adults, so it is easy to take advantage of them. You don't want your child to be afraid of adults, but you don't want them to be too willing to obey strange adults either. You want them to develop their own common sense practice in screening adults. The more independent they are, the less you'll have to worry about them and the more they can be trusted to make the right decisions. Here are some key tips in raising a safe child.

What Does it Take to Have a Safe Child?

Young Children: Teach children how to be powerful. Let them know they have the power and the right to protect themselves. How do you do that? For one thing, use terms like "stranger safety, and not stranger danger." Also, make practicing safety fun. Don't focus on the bad things that happen sometimes to other children. Do not confuse issues. For example, don't tell of sexual harassment when teaching how to prevent molestation. You want to inform without scaring.

Older Children: Because older children often have more common sense than younger children, they don't usually have to worry about being deceived by an older adult, but instead, they have to deal with physical confrontation. Parents often enroll their children in self-defense classes without first explaining how it should be used. It's great for children to take some sort of defense class, but explain that it is not used to pick fights or beat up people, but merely to escape danger.

When it comes to having a safe child you can never be to careful. You want your safe child to turn into a safe, responsible adult and raise a safe child of its own. Do your best and it will all work out.