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Protecting Your Child
A trait easily visible in the animal kingdom
is a mother protecting her children until
they reach the age that they can defend themselves.
For humans, the list of potential harmers
is long and stretches from self-induced accidents
to predatory attacks by others, both youths
and adults.
Protecting your child when at home
Humans are curious by nature, and children
suffer from a lack of experience to know
or to infer that some actions can be harmful.
Hence, a good parent needs to blend making
a home "child safe" with teaching
a child how to judge what is potentially
harmful. One of the leading causes of fires
in homes, for example, comes from children
playing with matches. Parents need to remove
all such harmful objects from anywhere children
may gain access to them; and they need to
teach children about their danger. This includes
many home hazards, such as medicines, cleaning
solutions, sharp objects, and weapons. In
addition to physical dangers, you will need
to guard their learning by restricting what
they watch on TV (see parental controls for TV's), listen to in music, encounter in games,
and surf into on the Internet (see parental control software).
Protecting your child when in transit
As children become more independent, they
begin to travel with less and less supervision.
Essential to safe travel for your child is
teaching them how and where to go, warning
signs of impending danger, and who to seek
out in case they get lost or are in danger.
Protecting your child when away from
home
Younger children should be handed off to
other trustworthy guardians (teachers, neighbors,
family, and friends) when out of your sight.
As they grow older, you will need to teach
your child to identify safe environments
on their own. You may want to consider children
identity kits as a precaution in the event
your child becomes missing.
Protecting themselves
As your child matures, you will need
to help
them learn to distinguish between blind
obediance
and resisting harm. Child abuse --
ranging
from physical abuse to child pornography
-- often arises because small children
assume
all adults can be trusted and their
instructions
followed. As a parent, you will need
to help
your child learn that there are good
and
bad people, how to tell the difference
between
them, and what to do when encountering
them. |
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