Talk to your child openly
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Talking to your child about potential trouble spots in daily life is easy — we tell them all the time: look both ways before crossing the street, don’t talk to strangers, wash your hands after using the bathroom.
They’re all easy phrases to repeat often, and as parents we do. These oft repeated phrases help prevent injury and threats to their health and well being.
But talking to your child about a more ominous threat like a known sex offender living in the neighbourhood can be a lot tougher for parents. We want to strike a healthy balance between teaching them caution and scaring the wits out of them.
As reporter Christine van Reeuwyk found out while researching her story this week, even police officers have differing views on what lengths to go to in order to teach your child about personal safety.
As it is with how much television to watch, or what type of video games we allow our kids to play, how and what we teach them about sexual predators is up to us as parents to decide.
The one thing we all should do is to make sure we begin those conversations with our children at an early age. As Sidney North Saanich RCMP Cst. Chris Swain says it’s never too early to have a conversation with your child, as long as it’s age appropriate.
With younger children, you don’t have to go into graphic details, you just have to keep the safety rules at the top of their mind. Use safety tips to give your children more knowledge to protect themselves and learn more about how to protect them. You can also help protect your kids by becoming more involved with your child. Know who their friends are and where they going after school. Talk to them about their coaches, teachers and club leaders — be specific and ask questions. Tell them to follow their intuition as you follow your own.
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