Keeping Your Family Safe and Protected – Four Ways to Ensure Peace of Mind
Today’s world is full of risks – some old, some new, some high and some low that seem to make raising a safe and protected family more challenging.
For this reason, it’s important for parents to do all they can to instill some peace of mind for themselves as well as their children and make sure their daily activities are conducted in a way that keeps them as safe and protected as possible.
Developing and having good habits can prevent the introduction of additional health and safety risks during daily life.
Driving
Driving practices, just like so many other routines, become habitual when they are performed repeatedly over a period of time. These habits can be either good or bad.
An example of this can be seen in how the parents respond to changing traffic lights. If it becomes automatic they will try to beat a yellow light, then sooner or later they will not make it through the intersection without a collision.
Drive safely and defensively, and you and your kids will know that you’re doing everything to can to keep them safe.
Crossing the Street
Just like trying to beat a yellow light while driving can be risky, failure to use caution when crossing the street can put a person in the danger zone. Stepping in front of an oncoming vehicle and assuming it will stop can be deadly.
Parents should teach their children to stop, look and listen before crossing the road. Children should also be taught to use the crosswalk and not jaywalk.
Not only should children be told this, they should see it in action when the parents practice it.
Likewise, children should be taught at a very early age not to chase a pet, ball or anything else into a road.
Recreational Activities
Recreational activities should be age appropriate. What is okay for adults and teens might be risky for younger children.
For example, playing baseball at full speed could get a young child hurt when he or she cannot react in time to get out of the way or catch a ball.
Instead, young children can start with T-ball and work their way up.
Encourage play, but keep a watchful eye on roughhousing, so it doesn’t become too serious or dangerous.
Tobacco Use
Children learn by watching and imitating. Tobacco use is no exception.
They may see it as the adult thing to do if they around adults who smoke or chew. In addition, smoking exposes them to second-hand smoke and the associated health hazards.
Making sure the entire family is breathing the clean, tobacco-free air is one of the best things parents can do.
Be open and honest about the dangers of tobacco and alcohol use, and teach little ones from a young age the safest course of action is to avoid them altogether.
The list of things parents can do to for peace of mind on behalf of their families is seemingly endless. These are a few things discussed as food for thought that can be carried over into other aspects of life.
Did you know home injuries are the number one source of accidental death for children? Almost 21 million hospital visits and 20,000 deaths each year are the result of accidents in the home. Click here to get some home safety tips for kids.
