An important part of keeping your home safe is ensuring everyone is on the same page, including your children.
Taking the time to teach your children about staying safe at home will give you some much-needed peace of mind, especially if you need to leave them alone at home from time to time.
We’ve put together a few tips so that you know what to focus on when teaching your kids about safety.
How to Teach Your Children About Staying Safe at Home
Create an Emergency Contact List
Do your children know who they should call in an emergency? Create an emergency contact list with them, starting with the most essential numbers. It’s also a good idea to add your contact number as well as that of a trusted neighbor. Keep this list in a place they can easily access in an emergency. You may even want to create multiple contact lists for different areas of your home. As an added precaution, explain to them who to call first in an emergency.
Play Out a Few Scenarios
If your children are still quite young, they might not know what a dangerous situation looks like. Take the time to play out a few scenarios with them. This doesn’t need to be a scary process either. It’s just making them aware of which scenarios require them to call for help or take other actions to protect themselves.
Teach Them How to Operate Your Security System
If you have an alarm system in the house, show your children how to use it. This way, they can arm the system if they feel they might be in danger or will be alone at home. When everyone knows how to operate the alarm system, everyone feels safer. Don’t forget to stress that any alarm codes should be kept strictly confidential. If your children are still quite young, you can skip this tip.
Speak to Them About Answering the Door
This is a simple one but absolutely essential. Remind your children on a regular basis to never open the door for anyone unless you’ve told them to expect someone. You could also take it one step further and install a video doorbell that you can give them access to. On the subject of access points, make sure you remind your children about keeping any front and back doors locked while they’re at home. They should also keep any lower-level windows closed if they’re not going to be downstairs.
Have an Emergency Plan in Place
What would you do in the event of a fire or home invasion? Do your kids know what to do? If you don’t already have an emergency plan in place, now is a good time to create one. Take your children through it and make it simple enough that everyone in your family knows what to do in the event of an emergency. If you have younger children, creating diagrams can make it easier to explain the plan to them.
Outline the No-Go Areas
Next, make a list of the areas your kids are not allowed to access, this includes cabinets and cupboards. For example, make a rule that your kids are not allowed in the garage without you. Having them stay away from the medicine cabinet and any cupboards that contain a gun safe is also important.
Upgrading Your Home’s Security
If you haven’t evaluated the integrity of your doors and locks in a while, make a point of doing so sooner rather than later. The more secure your doors and windows are, the safer your children will be at home. If you need expert advice and assistance, contact us about a security audit.