Keeping Children Safe From Wackos

Teaching Children Safety With Strangers
from Parents Across America by Robert Livingstone
We need to prepare a safe environment to nurture our child. We have been covered the safety guidelines at home and in school. Is it enough? We can be with our child all the time to protect him at all time. It’s just like a saying, “Give a man a fish, you have fed him for today; Teach a man to fish, and you have fed him for a lifetime.”. Therefore, the best formula is to teach our child to protect himself and be alert to his environment.

How do you tell your child about dangers dealing with strangers? My mom used to tell me when I was very little, “Don’t talk to strangers! If you don’t do as I said, the stranger will take you away and you will never be able to go home again.”. I was terrified and used to believe that strangers are all bad people that will harm me. I felt insecure all the time. Therefore, we suppose to educate our child to be alert and some basic guidelines to protect himself instead of scarring him.

“Not all strangers are bad people!”, some of you might be thinking. It’s true. I believe I’m a good stranger and will not hurt your child intentionally (smile). No one wants to let our child to be afraid and feel insecure of his environment when we keep reminding him about the dangers dealing with strangers. If we are able to guide them in a positive manner, our child will still enjoy his childhood and environment but he learns to be more alert to dangers surrounding him and ready to protect himself from child abductors or molesters.

Let us begin from the basic :

Our child should know his phone number, address and whom to ask for help when he is in danger.
Make rules about where and when our child can play, with supervision of an adult.
Listen to our child when he tries to tell us something is wrong.
Educate our child who counts as strangers - people that he doesn’t know; people that he just met on the road or anywhere.
Teach our child how to detect dangers - e.g. if the stranger trying to grab him or take his hand; if the stranger approaching him closer without his parents or adults beside him.
Some DON”Ts that we need to emphasize with our child :

Educate the child that he is not allowed to take any gifts from strangers (e.g. present, sweets etc). The child must always get parents permission before receiving anything from stranger.
Must not ride on a stranger’s car.
Must not walk or play alone without adult’s supervision.
Must not talk to stranger without adult’s supervision.
Must not give phone number or address to stranger.
If a stranger ask for any information, walk away as this is not his responsibility to help the stranger. Remind your child that the stranger is an adult and he is responsible for himself and he can get information from other adults.
Must not follow a stranger even if a stranger says he has come to pick him up. Tell your child that if mummy or daddy needs her/his friend to pick him up from school for example, they will inform the child in advance and introduce him to that person earlier and allow your child to get to know your friend.
Must not allow a stranger comes in the house.
Shout or make noise when a stranger tries to grab or threatens you.
You may check out this website http://www.safechild.org/strangers.htm to watch few video clips with your child and practice few rules with him at home or in school :

Stay an arm reach plus away from strangers. Stand up, back up and run to someone who can help you if you feel afraid.
Don’t talk to strangers.
Don’t take anything from strangers.
Never accept a ride from a stranger.
Don’t go anywhere with someone you don’t know.
I also have one incident in school that happened two months ago. One of my children’s parent turned back in 5 minutes after she has taken her daughter from the school. She came in to see me to inquire something. I noticed that her daughter was not with her. So I asked her about her daughter’s whereabout. The mother told me that she left her in the car waiting which was parked in front of the gate with the car engine’s on. I quickly walk out and told her that it’s too dangerous to let her alone in the car with engine on even though she came in just for a minute. She might have lost her daughter forever just one wrong decision! Even if the daughter is shouting in the car, we can’t hear her or it’s too late to run to her. So, parents also have to be alert on this.

I do hope you find some useful tips today to nurture our child’s safety.

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Bullying and Violence Today And Yesterday

The Best Site On Bullying IS Dictionary For Dads

Today there is absolutely no battle ethics. Kids do not think twice about forming a group to punish, hurt and humiliate another child for no logical reason. Kids do not use their hands to fight anymore. Today children and teenagers are armed with gangs and weapons such as guns, knives, and razor blades. Furthermore, they video tape the whole thing and embed it on U tube for the victim to be humiliated by the whole world.

Parents need to protect their children and part of that is realizing your children live in a different reality than you did. Teenagers today are not simply having a scuffle at school, which was once a coming of age experience. Today bullying and violence in children and teenagers has reached new levels which in previous years was un-heard of. Today, we witness mass killings every year in colleges, universities and high schools across the country.

For example in years past, if a teenager or any age child had a fight in school, it was unethical for anything but a one on one battle using your hands. If anyone ganged up on, reached for a weapon, or used a blunt object to hit their opponent, it was considered cheating and more embarrassing than losing the scuffle. Also in those days, you were admired regardless of the outcome, as long as you stood up for yourself and did not back down. Back then, you could show up to class the next day with a black eye, and some other student was sure to tell you; "at least you gave your opponent a good fight and you could hold your head up high. That is not the reality our children live in today. Therefore we need to realize the increased danger to our children and protect them from perpetrating or becoming a victim of violence in our communities.

The Federal government states that half of all children are bullied in school at some point or another. Fathers should realize, this means that there is a fifty percent chance your teenager or younger child has been a victim of school age violence or bullying.Teenagers are statistically the most dangerous population in our society.

Anger Management

One out of five Americans has an anger management problem. Anger is a natural human emotion and is nature's way of empowering us to "ward off" our perception of an threat or attack to our well being. The problem is not anger, the problem is the lack of skills to manage the anger. Un-managed anger and rage is the major cause of conflict in our personal and professional relationships. Domestic abuse, road rage, workplace violence, divorce, and addiction are just a few examples of what happens when anger is not managed effectively. Parents are not only responsibile for their emotions and behaviors but are also responsibile for how they impact their children.
Check out Dictionary for dads to get great tips and tools to manage anger.

Fathers gide to Family and Parenting

Parenting And Time Management
It's probably safe to say that nearly every parent in the United States experiences poverty of time. We need time to connect well with each child, time to tend relationships with our partners and our wider families, time to keep our households, time to sleep and eat, time to learn new things, and time to relax. And time has been taken from fathers in drastic proportions over the last 30 years.

The work of parenting is vital, and it takes time. Connecting in a generous, loving way with our children is at the heart of parenting. So is thinking about our interactions with our children. And playing with them, which we often consider the frosting on the cake of daily care, is what they would love to do with us for hours each day. If our children had their way, we would play with them and their friends 40 hours a week, and we would work an hour or two a day at most!

Parents also have needs. We need warm human contact with other grown-ups. We need praise and reassurance for the job we do as parents. We need a way to release the feelings we store up, day after day, while we do the best job we can with our children. And we need a chance to relax, free from worry and guilt.

But we are hard-pressed to meet our own needs and our children's. 30 years ago, one employed parent could usually support a family of 4. Today, it takes two parents working to support the average family of 4. The work week for each of those parents averages 6-1/2 hours longer than the work week of 30 years ago. This amounts to six weeks of extra work days each year! It's no wonder we're under pressure! Given that we are backed so firmly into the overwork corner, how are we to organize our lives so we can, at least sometimes, be satisfied with ourselves as mothers and fathers? How can we get the time and peace of mind we need?
To read more click here http://www.dictionaryfordads.com/workingparents.htm

Emotions, Stress And Holiday Madness!!!

The Holidays, today’s catchword for the celebrations from Thanksgiving to New Year, can evoke the most bittersweet emotions in some families. On the one hand, there is the Hallmark ideal of the warm, happy family, bathed in the glow of love and togetherness. On the other hand, the emotionally charged reality is often quite different, especially for financially stressed, single parent or blended families, juggling multiple schedules with time and financial constraints, trying to please everyone.

Make it all work this year go to our site for site for more detail...

http://www.dictionaryfordads.com/familyholidaysdefined.htm

Holiday Bliss For Daddy

The Holidays, today’s catchword for the celebrations from Thanksgiving to New Year, can evoke the most bittersweet emotions in some families. On the one hand, there is the Hallmark ideal of the warm, happy family, bathed in the glow of love and togetherness. On the other hand, the emotionally charged reality is often quite different, especially for financially stressed, single parent or blended families, juggling multiple schedules with time and financial constraints, trying to please everyone. The Holidays can be tense, stressful, expensive, and sadly, disappointing especially if you do not have a comprehensive holiday plan.. As with any important event, advance planning will ease some of the conflict and tension, clearing the way for families to remember the reason for the season as they enjoy relatively stress- free, happy, and memorable family celebrations.

Schedules become so jam-packed during the Holiday season it’s important to start planning as soon as you can. Clarify and confirm who is going to be where and when, and write down all the details so everyone knows the plans in advance, especially the children. Email is a perfect vehicle for keeping everyone in the loop. If air travel is involved, make sure tickets are booked well ahead to avoid disappointment or undue expenses. Scheduling conflicts can be resolved ahead of time rather than at the last minute when they tend to cause anger and stress. Once basic details are finalized more time can be spent discussing and planning the fun stuff such as meals, shopping, gift giving, and getting together with friends and family.

Plan to be flexible, especially with teenagers who may have work or exam conflicts that can disrupt pre- set visitation. Every parent wants to spend the “Actual Day “ with their kids, but if this is not possible be creative with alternatives and remember, these are just days and can be replaced by other days with the same level of commitment to the season. Some families have been known to host Christmas in July to avoid the “Actual Day” stress. Compromising relieves tension for children caught in the middle of extreme Holiday scheduling.

Plan gift giving so that both parents are on the same page as far as budget and gift list are concerned. See our page on the Family Holiday Bailout plan for more details. Competition between parents and grandparents about who can buy the most expensive or outlandish gifts should be discouraged. Plan an equitable division of the gift list and stick to it. Help kids plan and present home-made or inexpensive gifts to the other parent in the spirit of Holiday giving.

Start your own family traditions and rituals around the Holidays so that each celebration has special meaning distinct from the pre-divorce family. Make sure that all the kids are involved creating the new traditions and encourage simple and inexpensive activities such as making a special dessert, taking a particular walk, or singing a song, reading a story, or playing a silly board game.

For separated/divorced families if it is not your time to be with your children on the Actual Day make plans to be with family or friends so that you won’t be at loose ends. Let the kids know your plans so that they won’t worry about you while they are celebrating with the other parent. Plan to call on the Actual Day and express how excited you are about the kids enjoying themselves. Talk about how you will celebrate together the next time you see each other.

The Holidays are a special time for celebrating and reconnecting with family and everyone looks forward to good food, fun activities, and excitement. With forward planning your family's Holiday season can be a warm and loving family celebration that kids will remember and cherish always. Happy Holidays.