Safety 101: Bike or Any Wheeled Vehicle Safety

Whether your child can be found riding a bike, skateboarding, motorcycle riding, or snowboarding the best way to keep them safe is to encourage them to wear a helmet.  Sometimes (or more like often) getting them to actually wear a helmet isn't as easy as buying one for them.  One of the tricks that we used when our children were young was to get them involved in buying the helmet ensuring that it was one that they would like to wear.  We also let them decorate their helmet with stickers.  In addition, we wore and still wear helmets as well.  Don't underestimate the power of you modeling this behavior.   If they start wearing a helmet when they are younger, they are more likely to wear it when they are older.  They will have developed a habit. 

If your children are older and they have not been wearing a helmet, start encouraging them today to wear one.  Talk to them about how many of their heroes wear helmets.  Professional skateboarders, bikers and motorcycle riders would not be caught dead without their helmet.  If they don't buy into helmets after this discussion, you may need to take a more direct approach.  Show them some pictures of accidents involving people who were not wearing their helmet.  If this doesn't provide the desired effect, you may need to take their equipment away from them for a time to let them know how important wearing a helmet is.  It may be the difference between life or death.  It may be the difference between walking away from an accident with a few bumps and bruises or experiencing brain damage.

Safety 101: A Book Filled with Great Ideas to Teach Your Child About an Abduction

I would like to recommend a book for you to read that gives practical suggestions on how to survive an abduction.  The book is called Safe Escape:  50 Ways to Prevent Abduction by Bob Stuber.  Bob Stuber is a former California police officer, and one of America’s most recognized safety experts. 

This book gives practical ideas on what your child can do to prevent an abduction no matter where it is taking place.  Some examples to peak your interest are:  if your child is being abducted from their bike teach them to hold onto the bike as it is much more difficult to abduct a child and their bike, and if your child is being followed by a car have them turn and go in the opposite direction as it will take the car some time to turn around.

You can find this book on line at BobStuber.com or from Amazon.com.

Safety 101: Helping Our Children Survive a Home Invasion

Experts believe that teaching your children a few steps to take if they are home alone when someone breaks in may just save their life.  Teach them to go into a room far from where the person is breaking in, lock the door, and call the police.  When calling the police, they need to know the information to provide.  Practice this phone call with them.  If they have practiced they are more likely to remain calm and provide the police with the needed information which will have them arriving quicker.  They'll need to give their name address and information on what is happening.  Let them know that the person on the other end of the phone will probably want them to stay on the line.

Another alternative, if possible, is to have your children exit the house in the opposite direction of the break in.  Back door if the intruder is breaking in the front door or window.  You should instruct them to run to a close by neighbor who is usually home and call police from a place of safety.  I suggest that you let your neighbor know of this plan .  

The key to your child surviving a home invasion is practice, practice, practice.

What Goes On Inside a Toddler's Brain....Histercal

No group of people need to develop a sense of humor more than parents.  Laugh loud and laugh often it will get you through those tough parenting times.

A Need to Teach Your Children to Stay Safe in the Event of...

In today's society, I think that each of us needs to teach our children how to stay safe in the event of a home break in, school shooting, abduction, etc.  Sadly the world that they are growing up in seems to be more dangerous than the world we grew up in.  Some may argue that this is due to better reporting rather than an actually increase, but I think the dangers facing our children are on the increase. 

I will be addressing some of the dangers that your child may be faced with and what to teach them to do in this series on "Keeping Your Child Safe".  I will be giving you practical ideas to practice with your child about what to do when they find themselves in a bad situation.  Some parents may think that this will scare their children, but I like to think of it as preparing children.  If you think this will scare your child, consider the way that you present the information.  Take time to calmly explain to them that it is highly unlikely that this will happen to them but "arming" them with what to do in these events may build their confidence in handle other situations in their lives as well as provide some quality time for you and your child.

An Attack On Our Most Beloved Children's Movies

First an attack on our most beloved children's books and now an attack on our most popular children's movie.  When will the madness stop?

Do children's movies really have subliminal sexual messages, product placement, and blatant propaganda?  Snow White and Toy Story 3 are under fire for being sexist, Shrek 2 for product placement, Lion King for having "SEX" (or is it "SFX") scribbled in the stars, Rango for its use of excessive smoking, and  The Lorax for its ecofriendly message.

Some of these attacks are ludicrious and I will not even give them any credence by talking about them.  But I do want to address the use of product placement in movies.  I believe that this issue is much larger than any movie.  The attack on product placement specificly directed at our children needs to be expanded to include television and the internet as well.  Right or wrong, it is something that parents have been dealing with for generations.  These messages will not be going away any time soon.  You will need to teach your child how to evaluate them yourself.  This will be a difficult task because advertisers are good at their jobs, but it is not one that you can literally afford to side step.

The movies that have strong messages about things like the environment affords you the opportunity to open a discussion with your children about your views on these topics.  If you do not agree with the views that these movies present, sit down with your child and let them know why.  Anything that can open up a line of communication between you and child can not be all bad.

Consider the movie Bambi.  I am not in favor of hunting, but I believe that not allowing my children to watch a movie because of five minutes of the movie is wrong.  Don't throw out a classic movie because of something that is a small portion of the movie, talk about it with your child.

What Should You Tell Your Child to Do If Something Embarrassing Happens to Them

Embarrassing things happen to everyone.  The sooner that your children know how to handle an embarrassing situation the better.  Let them know that if they get all flustered and react badly, the incident is going to be around for a long time.  If they laugh it off, and basicly laugh at themselves along with everyone else there, it will go away quickly.  Being able to laugh at yourself will not only make for a better rounded person but also make embarrassing events go away quicker.