We need to prepare a safe environment to nurture our child. We have been covered the safety guidelines at home and in school. Is it enough? We can be with our child all the time to protect him at all time. It’s just like a saying, “Give a man a fish, you have fed him for today; Teach a man to fish, and you have fed him for a lifetime.”. Therefore, the best formula is to teach our child to protect himself and be alert to his environment.
How do you tell your child about dangers dealing with strangers? My mom used to tell me when I was very little, “Don’t talk to strangers! If you don’t do as I said, the stranger will take you away and you will never be able to go home again.”. I was terrified and used to believe that strangers are all bad people that will harm me. I felt insecure all the time. Therefore, we suppose to educate our child to be alert and some basic guidelines to protect himself instead of scarring him.
“Not all strangers are bad people!”, some of you might be thinking. It’s true. I believe I’m a good stranger and will not hurt your child intentionally (smile). No one wants to let our child to be afraid and feel insecure of his environment when we keep reminding him about the dangers dealing with strangers. If we are able to guide them in a positive manner, our child will still enjoy his childhood and environment but he learns to be more alert to dangers surrounding him and ready to protect himself from child abductors or molesters.
Let us begin from the basic :
- Our child should know his phone number, address and whom to ask for help when he is in danger.
- Make rules about where and when our child can play, with supervision of an adult.
- Listen to our child when he tries to tell us something is wrong.
- Educate our child who counts as strangers - people that he doesn’t know; people that he just met on the road or anywhere.
- Teach our child how to detect dangers - e.g. if the stranger trying to grab him or take his hand; if the stranger approaching him closer without his parents or adults beside him.
Some DON”Ts that we need to emphasize with our child :
- Educate the child that he is not allowed to take any gifts from strangers (e.g. present, sweets etc). The child must always get parents permission before receiving anything from stranger.
- Must not ride on a stranger’s car.
- Must not walk or play alone without adult’s supervision.
- Must not talk to stranger without adult’s supervision.
- Must not give phone number or address to stranger.
- If a stranger ask for any information, walk away as this is not his responsibility to help the stranger. Remind your child that the stranger is an adult and he is responsible for himself and he can get information from other adults.
- Must not follow a stranger even if a stranger says he has come to pick him up. Tell your child that if mummy or daddy needs her/his friend to pick him up from school for example, they will inform the child in advance and introduce him to that person earlier and allow your child to get to know your friend.
- Must not allow a stranger comes in the house.
- Shout or make noise when a stranger tries to grab or threatens you.
You may check out this website http://www.safechild.org/strangers.htm to watch few video clips with your child and practice few rules with him at home or in school :
- Stay an arm reach plus away from strangers. Stand up, back up and run to someone who can help you if you feel afraid.
- Don’t talk to strangers.
- Don’t take anything from strangers.
- Never accept a ride from a stranger.
- Don’t go anywhere with someone you don’t know.
I also have one incident in school that happened two months ago. One of my children’s parent turned back in 5 minutes after she has taken her daughter from the school. She came in to see me to inquire something. I noticed that her daughter was not with her. So I asked her about her daughter’s whereabout. The mother told me that she left her in the car waiting which was parked in front of the gate with the car engine’s on. I quickly walk out and told her that it’s too dangerous to let her alone in the car with engine on even though she came in just for a minute. She might have lost her daughter forever just one wrong decision! Even if the daughter is shouting in the car, we can’t hear her or it’s too late to run to her. So, parents also have to be alert on this.
I do hope you find some useful tips today to nurture our child’s safety.
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