Safety and Security for Children and Teenagers.
Your child is no more a baby and growing faster than you think. You might miss carrying them and having their arms around you always….f you ask me … surely miss those days…
I do also realize that along with my Childs other life choices, their safety aspect is ever changing too. My priorities have to change to keep them safe and secure. I will share some of the ideas I use for my children’s safety and some I have learnt with my experience. You can use some of these ideas or just be prepared.
5 useful tips on child safety and child security when your child is in pre-teens or teenage.
1. At this age children often get too involved outdoors and loose track of time. Give them a watch with an alarm and make them habituated to keep track of time and return home on time. Keep repeating that you need to know wherever they are and that they should call or otherwise let you know about their whereabouts wherever they are.
2. I do not believe in giving them smart phones before they are 18 years but it is your choice. Give them any communicating devise if possible and if you know it is not very likely for them to loose it. A sim in the phone without data is an option. That way they can just use it for communicating with you. You can even get a GPS tracker to keep track when they are out. But I also feel tracking them 24/7 at teens is not really good always…its a choice parents need to make.
3. Internet security is the next most important concern for kids of this age. Our children are facing a different world than us through the burst of informations available to them through the internet. As every coin has two sides, so is the availability of unlimited info at a very early age. Sometimes are small children are not equipped to handle so much information.
9 Tips to help your child have a healthy online behavior :
✓ When they are online, be with them for a while and see what exactly they are up to
✓ Restrict internet usage time depending on time. Let them not consume all their free time online.
✓ Talk to them about wrong and inappropriate online behavior.
✓ Teach them not to share passwords with anyone.
✓ Sharing personal pictures and day to day activity details is not safe online. They can be used for criminal activities in worst cases. Give them examples in daily conversations that such things happen. Do not scare them, just show them that they need to be careful.
✓ Teach them how they can secure their accounts and computers. Explain antivirus and other protection mechanisms. If you keep talking to them positively about keeping themselves safe on the internet, they will get the idea gradually and learn new ways to keep themselves away from unnecessary online problems.
✓ Keep a watch on them when they may use the internet. If you observe them shutting down the computer in your presence, using internet in your absence, Being online late in the night, you may need to take some action and talk to them politely and find out what is going on.
✓ Usage of chatrooms etc should be discouraged in early teens according to me. When you are having a discussion with your child, casually mention that it is very easy for someone to misinform in the chatrooms. Most people are not honest in chatrooms as they want to show their best. It is not wise to get friendly to one in chatrooms at an age when they are emotionally vulnerable at this age.
✓ You should know the kind of online games your child is playing . Since these give access to your child to talk to random people, it is not wise to always leave them unattended. I know it is not possible or required to spy on them, but as parents inform your child not to reveal personal information to strangers online.
4. Child Safety with money is important too. Probably your growing kid is handling some money in the form of pocket money, extra curricular activity fees, money for small time shopping etc. Here are a few tip to safeguard your child who recently learnt to handle money.
✓ Know how much money your child has at a given point of time.
✓ Keep rules regarding what and when the kid can spend the money. Money should not be spent without your permission till kid reaches a certain age. Depending upon your choices, you can determine that age. For example I give just 50 bucks to my 12 year old for the month which he can use for treating himself now and then. For anything beyond, he needs to take permission. I found his money twice a month. He is used to it and follows this pattern strictly by himself!! And I am a happy mom in this regard.
✓ When with friends, encourage early teen children not to indulge too much in personal money talks. Instead they can plan how to deal with money or invest with their friends. General talks and not personal should be encouraged. This is possible only when you spend enough time with them and you kind of know what kind of stuff they can discuss with friends.
✓ Money should be carried in safety pockets or purses and not loosely for child safety.
✓ Don’t give your child to handle large amounts of cash or cards with big limits.
✓ Encourage counting money while taking back change from shops. This is a good habit and these days I see many of us don’t do that as we are more used to plastic.
5. Child security in school for pre teen and teenagers.
Your child is in pre teens or teens and you keep worrying about his behavior, friends, influencers , teachers, studies, mental growth….sounds familiar right?
Our concern takes a shift from physical safety of our child to emotional and mental health and safety once they reach pre-teens. This is because they now spend a lot more hours outside home, in school and their exposure socially are now probably a lot more wide. Some practices you adopt in these years to safeguard your child are:
✓ Invite their friends once in a while and try to know what kind of company they keep
✓ Be well squinted if not friends with their friend’s parents. This will there are chances that you know their circle better.
✓ Take them shopping and attend their sport events. This way you will get to know their tastes better and also know the people who they spend time with.
✓ Know their teachers and attend all PTMs. Be in touch with them over E-mails and send them mails with your concerns. This way when you reply , you will get to know their opinion on your child.
✓ Leave them alone once in a while and then find out how their day went, how did they spend their days etc.
✓ Observe if there is any change in behavior. In this age this is critical. There are often factors out of home that worry them and result in a visible change in behavior. As a parent you need to know the reason. You will know if it needs to be addressed or not. Don’t get finicky with every change but keep a tap and take action only if you feel required.
✓ For teenagers, notice their attraction to the opposite sex and let them know its normal and how to deal with this new and wonderful feeling in their lives without getting too distracted or harming their core duties like study and sports.
✓ Sometimes at teenage children get extremely conscious of their looks specially if they discuss looks in school. That is normal. We also experienced the same. But I have come across instances where teens start taking extreme measures to improve their looks. For example – girls doing abrupt dieting to reduce weight, boys taking protein powders to bulk up, girls using heavy makeup always that may affect their skin etc. If you notice extreme indulgence, it is a good idea to intervene but softly.
To conclude I would again like to remind myself and all of my readers that your child is different and you need to take care of your lovely young and teenager child in your own ways. I have found the above to be helpful and I feel these pointers are good to remember. Make your own little changes and follow your instinct coz you know your baby best!!
Things you need to know
You have a lot of anxieties as a first-time parent. One of them is probably child security and safety for the newborn. The baby is back home now, and you’re ready to enjoy his new role in your life, but what’s next? If he’s anything like his older siblings, his infant years will be filled with plenty of attention and worries and concerns. He’s never too young to start learning about safety and security, and the following tips will help you pass down your wisdom and confidence to your little one.
Child security is an important consideration for any parent, regardless of age. The best place to start is with the idea that children are precious and deserve to be protected.
As any parent knows, it is never too early to teach your child about safety and the importance of being responsible. Teaching your child about responsibility is not only important for them, but it can save their lives. Children under the age of 12 make up one-third of all children killed each year in motor vehicle crashes. Child safety and security tips for toddlers include:
- Always keep a close eye on your kids.
- Never leave your kid alone, even for a second.
- Be particularly cautious when guests or strangers are in the vicinity.
- Keep harmful goods, such as cleaning products, medications, and tiny objects that might be ingested out of reach of toddlers.
- Always install kid safety locks on cupboards and doors to keep curious toddlers out of harm’s way.
- Teach your child that going out with a stranger is never a good idea, even if they offer sweets or other treats.
- Teach your child how to be safe near water, both at home and in public settings like pools and beaches.
If you wish to start a school for children with special needs, you will require many things. It would help if you found appropriate teaching facilities, special education experts, and parent advocates. But you need someone who can help you start a school and run it properly. For this, you need an Online Child Specialist in Bangalore.
Happy parenting!!