Safety Tips for Kids and Parents
As soon as your children can articulate a sentence, you should begin teaching them how to protect themselves. The following are some basic safety rules to convey:
- If you get separated from your parents in a public place, go to a checkout counter, security office, or lost and found area. Tell the person in charge that you need help finding your parents.
- If someone wants to take your picture, say "NO!" and tell your parents, day care provider, or teacher.
- Do not get in a car or go anywhere with any person unless your parents have told you that it is okay. Share a code word with your child known only among family members. Stress to your child that anyone offering a ride unexpectedly, even a family friend, will have been given the code word in advance.
- If someone follows you on foot or in a car, immediately get to a safe area.
- Do not approach the car of anyone who claims to be asking for directions or looking for a lost pet.
- If someone tries to take you somewhere without your parents permission, quickly get away from them and scream, "This person is not my parent."
- Always ask your parents' permission to go somewhere and try to have a friend stay with you.
Situations Not Strangers
Simply telling children not to talk to stranger could mislead them. More often, children are harmed by someone they know -- a relative, family friend, neighbor or other familiar adult. According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, children are better served with instructions to be wary of certain kinds of situations or behaviors -- such as touching or being touched by an adult in any place a swimsuit would cover -- rather than individuals who have an unusual or disheveled appearance. A clear, calm and reasonable message about potentially harmful situations and actions may be easier for children to understand than a profile or image of a stranger.
Children can be raised to be polite and friendly, but tell them it is okay for them to be suspicious of any adult asking for assistance. Often exploiters or abductors initiate seemingly innocent contact with the victim. They might ask for help in finding a lost puppy, or simply ask for directions.
Teach children at an early age that they:
- Should trust their feelings;
- have the right to say no to what they sense is wrong; and
- should not keep secrets from their parents.
If someone does approach them in a manner that makes them feel uncomfortable, they should tell their parents immediately.
How to React When You Believe a Child is Missing
If you can't immediately locate your child, stay calm. Most likely, your child is safe, preoccupied in an activity and has no idea that you are worried.
If your child is missing from home, search the house. For a young child, you should check closets, piles of laundry, in and under beds, inside old refrigerators, wherever a child could crawl into or hide and possibly be asleep or not able to get out. For older children, check with friends, neighbors, or other hangouts. If you still cannot find your child, call the police.
If your child disappears when shopping, notify the manager of the store and ask for assistance. Notify the police.