Child Safety Tips

Preventing Child Abductions and Teaching Children Safety: continued...

Make sure the are no visible names! When out with your children, always know exactly what they are wearing. Do not write your child's name on the outside of their jacket or sweater. This allows a stranger to use the child's name to get their attention. Speak with your child's caregivers as well making sure they don't do this on outings either. Never leave their name on a school backpack, for that matter, for the same reason listed above. You don't want a stranger to have an advantage — and by knowing your child's name, they have direct access to start a opportune conversation.

Provide them the ability to carry personal information. Supply your children with a personal child identification card or child id bracelet. Having their name and contact information readily available along with an emergency number to contact provides them with more tools in the prevention of child abduction. Have younger children fitted with child identification cards in their pocket, out of sight, preferably with zippers or have child id cards sewn directly into the inside of their jackets or shoes, so the card does not get misplaced.

Don't ever leave the store! If your child has gotten lost in a public place, teach them not to leave the immediate area with anyone, even with the person chosen to help, and to never leave the store to try and find the car on their own. Your child should call for you loudly. Teach your children to call for you first. You might be just around the corner. Teach them your full name — just calling "Mommy" might not be adequate. If you don't respond, they should, without leaving the immediate area, seek help from a woman — preferably a woman shopping with a child. Lost children should ask for help from a woman, for several reasons.

Children are better off choosing someone than having someone choose them.

Women are more likely to stick with children until they're safe.

Women are statistically less likely to be predators.

Women are better choices than male security guards, who are frequently hired without proper background checks. Nevertheless, if the chosen woman makes the child feel uncomfortable, the child should have no compunction about immediately choosing someone else.

More Child Safety Tips

Along with the child safety tips below, we've included more specific topics for parents to read through to prevent child abduction as well as articles about teaching stranger danger and internet safety.

Child Internet Safety
Stranger Danger
School Safety
Safe Shopping
Protect your Child
Missing Children
Child Safety Online
Internet Safety for Kids
Child Safety in the Home
Child Abduction Statistics

Don't leave your child alone. Always go to the restroom with your children. Don't wait outside the door or leave to wait in another area. Don't leave your children alone at any public facility, such as toy departments, video arcades or playgrounds, as a convenient "baby-sitter" while you're shopping — not even just to walk around the aisle. Child abductors have been known to frequent these places to gain access to children, and they move very, very quickly once they have your child in their hands. If you realize your child is missing, stay calm and try to return to the spot in which you last saw them. If they are nowhere to be found, immediately proceed to look for a security guard or an information desk and let them know your child is missing. The staff should attempt to locate the child instantly. DO NOT ALLOW THEM TO MAKE YOU WAIT! In the event you witness any child being abducted, immediately proceed to contact security. The establishment should have a program in place where, not only to they search the premises for the predator, but also lock all exits to the mall, as a temporary security measure. This in fact, should be a priority since most abductors work very rapidly in their escape, thus every effort should be made to limit the amount of distance the child is taken from their original destination. Make sure all bathrooms get thoroughly checked — child abductors sometimes head there first in order to change a child's appearance. Ensure that an announcement is made over the public address system so that others are aware a child is missing. If the child isn't found immediately, call the police.

It's OK to yell. If a stranger starts leading a child away and tells them to be quiet, they should yell as loud as possible. We recommend, for a child, to shout out the following: "Help! He's not my father!" or "Help! She's not my mother!". These words give another stranger the go-ahead to interfere. We disagree with advice to yell "Fire" or "Fight" — because they aren't words that receive a desired response. We believe, that "Fire" might only encourage a chaotic stampede toward the exits, allowing a child abductor help in escaping, and "Fight" would cause unhelpful confusion — while possibly not bringing people who would interfere. We also wonder if frightened children would remember to yell words that don't fit the situation. Ultimately, we suggest that parents teach the phrase that would get them moving toward helping a child who was yelling it in public. For us, that phrase is "Help! He/SHe is not my parent!"

Continue to read more child safety tips.