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Tips on Keeping the Kids You Care About Safe
The Two C’s: Be CLEAR and CALM when talking to kids about safety! We teach kids to look both ways before crossing the street. We don’t overwhelm them with fears about their ending up in the emergency room with crushed bones. Addressing concerns matter-of-factly and without anxiety will give children skills and confidence rather than unimaginable fear.
Say No to Denial. When children express worries or fears, avoid saying, “That will never happen to you.” Find out more about their concerns, and together, find appropriate solutions. We want to help children with their fears, rather than invalidate them.
Honor Instincts. We must encourage children to speak up about what they like and dislike, from their favorite ice cream to whether they want a family member to not touch them. Adults need to listen. When they don’t, a child’s innate sense of comfort and discomfort is eroded, which makes it harder for safety instincts to become natural to children. Our intuition is what we rely on through out lives to keep out of bad situations and stay safe. By honoring your child’s instincts, you are helping them develop their intuition about people and situations.
Learn Self-Defense. Consider taking a class to learn how to better protect your child. Or, have your child take a self-defense class. A child can surprise an assailant by physically resisting him or her. Effective resistance need not mean that a child can or needs to overpower an adult assailant. A 2010 study done by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children shows that children are, in fact, their own best protectors. Go to the Washington Post website to read the full article on that study.
