It’s every parent’s wish to keep their young ones safe from danger when they are on their own, but this might not be feasible if you haven’t educated your child on how to react to some situations. There have been cases of child harm before, and if such children had been trained on how to deal with the issue before it went out of hand, maybe the result would have been better. It’s always advisable to try and get out of a situation as compared to not trying at all.
Having considered so, let’s go through some of the ways you could keep your child safe at all times:
1. Do away with personalized belongings
One thing that might make your child trust someone they don’t know is if the stranger already has their name. When someone calls out your child by their right name, chances are that the young one will feel confident that the stranger already knows them even if they are meeting for the first time, and that will make them fall into the attacker’s trap easily. As such, all parents need to get rid of any personalized items that have their child’s name on them. This way, strangers will have to use different methods to try and get the young one to trust them, and this will make it easier for your child to know that they are dealing with a stranger.
2. Fighting back and warning others is beneficial
Tantrums in children are quite common since some young ones just feel frustrated when their expectations are not met, or they feel uncomfortable with certain decisions that have been made by adults accompanying them. Your child might be in danger, but just because the people around have often witnessed similar cases a number of times, they simply rule out the situation as normal. Therefore, it would be better to train your young one on uttering some phrases such as “Leave me alone”, “Where’s my mum and dad” and others, to raise suspicion from other individuals. You also need to let your young one know that biting, hitting, screaming at the assaulter, and any other fight back methods will work to get attention and help.
3. Use code words and monitoring devices
Code words can be some of the most useful tactics to help your young one get out of harmful situations as long as they can remember the code, which is why the word shouldn’t be so complex that your child might be unable to use it in certain situations. A good example of how a code word can be used would be that of someone at the door, threatening your child to let them in.
Even if someone is asking the young one to open the door for them with a kind tone, let your child know that they should first ask them to give the word code. Your young one can also use the code when they are letting you know through a telephone call that something is not right.
In addition to using code words, parents may also apply the use of monitoring devices such as webcams and hidden cameras for live feeds. That, however, needs enough research before buying such equipment for improved home-monitoring efficiency. You could read reviews from vdashcam.com and other sites about the best cameras that you can purchase so you can always be sure that your young ones are safe while you’re away.
4. No ‘body secrets’
At times, your child might be sexually abused, and convinced to keep the action a secret between them and the abuser. Your children should know that once someone abuses them sexually and asks them to hide it from anyone else, they should come and report the action to you, no matter who that person was. Keeping ‘body secrets’ might lead to even higher degrees of sexual abuse to your young one, something you can prevent by warning them.
5. Escaping when being followed
You need to let your young ones know that they shouldn’t ever hold a conversation with anyone that they haven’t met before. Teach them that bad-intention strangers don’t always have a threatening or rough look. They can also present themselves as neat, kind-looking individuals. Also point out that if someone asks them to get into their car, they should not do so at all costs, and if they are being followed or chased by someone in a car, they should stop at once and start running in the opposite direction. This can be a way to get some additional time to act before the car is turned around.
Since you value your child a lot and want them to be safe at all times, while also having peace of mind that they at least have some strategies to use when caught up in unsafe situations, you ought to teach them the techniques discussed above. However, ensure that you take them through those points without scaring them, so that they won’t freak out and fail to do anything at all when attacked.
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