Teaching Your Kids about Security

Children should be taught about the importance and the how’s of security for a number of reasons. First, they are the most helpless when it comes to crimes. The top three crimes that are committed against them are sexual assault, bullying, and homicide.

Moreover, kids who have been abused when they were still young would likely grow up becoming criminals themselves. In fact, based on the report of the National Institute of Justice in 1992, 53 percent of them may be arrested as a juvenile, 38 percent as an adult, and 38 percent for a horrendous crime.
Fortunately, there are many ways on how you can secure your child and make him or her less susceptible to crime:

1. Create parental controls. Are your children already exposed to the World Wide Web? You may then want to upgrade your parental controls. Make sure that you can start blacklisting the sites where they get to interact with possible sex offenders such as in social networking websites. You may also want to reduce the amount of time they spend online.

Parental controls can also be extended in mobile phones. The Firefly Mobile, for example, can only store 5 phone numbers, just enough for Mom, Dad, and perhaps siblings. You can also create speed dials, just in case they need to ask for immediate help. Lastly, screen the calls and the text messages.

2. Enroll your children in self-defense classes. You can make them physically fitter and mentally faster by enrolling them in any of the self-defense classes. The moves will definitely come in handy when they find themselves in very compromising situations. Besides, it’s one of the most engaging activities they can do while they’re young—much better than watching cartoons.

3. Teach them to use surveillance cameras. Never underestimate the ability of your kids to learn how to use security devices. Because they are still very young, their minds are still wide open, and they can easily absorb teachings, especially when it comes to gadgets, which they are fond of. You can tell them how to monitor cameras or turn them on.

4. Network your system. It’s not actually a good idea to provide your kids with their own computers, but if it’s absolutely necessary, make sure that you can set up a network. This allows you to keep track of the websites they have visited, the people they talked to online, and the duration of their computer use.

5. Tell them to never open doors to strangers. They should do this even if you’re around. You cannot keep track of the people who go through your door all the time. If someone knocks, it’s important that you tell your kid to immediately approach you and inform you of the presence of the visitor.

6. Don’t let them answer the phone. Children can be pretty honest. As long as you’re around, don’t let them get hold of the phone unless you give it to them personally, so they don’t end up divulging personal information. However, kids should learn how to dial 911 and when they are going to use it.