Halloween Safety Tips for You and Your Children

Halloween Safety Tips for You and Your Children

Halloween is a fun holiday for children. Dressing up and “trick or treating” for candy was one of the yearly highlights for my brothers and I growing up.

While having fun, there are still dangers to avoid and situations to be aware of in order to have a safe holiday.

Here are a few tips to keep you and your family safe during Halloween.

Costumes are a pretty big part of Halloween, but when outside at night, many costumes are not visible, especially the darker material costumes. To make sure your children are visible to cars and other traffic, have them wear a reflective wrist band or bag that shows up in headlights.

Hooded costumes and masks may restrict eye sight. Be sure your children can see while wearing hoods and masks.

Carrying a flash light will help your children if they find themselves in the dark. Check the batteries or put new ones in to guarantee the flashlight works when they need it.

Another safety accessory to take along is a cell phone. If anything happens or your child finds himself/herself alone, they can call home or if in danger can call the police.

Check all candy before they eat it. Remind your children to not eat any of the candy they get while “trick or treating” until they’re home and you inspect it for tampering.

Look for holes in packaging and wrappers that are open. Everything should be sealed.

Note: When I was a kid, one of our treats was tampered with. A candy bar we had received had a needle in the middle. The wrapper looked funny. Sure enough, there was a not so nice surprise inside. The bad thing about traveling house to house is that over the course of an hour or two, we couldn’t remember which house it came from.

Never go inside a stranger’s house. Houses are where the candy is! But, make sure your children know never to enter a house while waiting for the owner to get candy. If someone is expecting “trick or treaters”, they will have plenty of candy next to the front door.

If the home owner asks if them to come inside, your children need to know, that’s their queue to skip that house and move on.

Cars are a big part of accidents on Halloween night. Remember to state the obvious with your children, “look both ways before you cross the street.”

Be sure to use cross walks when available and take your time. There’s plenty of candy for everyone. Rushing from house to house can be dangerous when we stop using good judgment in the excitement of the moment.

Travel in a group. Groups are less likely to be approached by an attacker. Attackers and child abductions usually happen when a child is singled out and approached while alone.

Plan the route to take and set a curfew for when your children should be home. Knowing when they’ll be back will help with keeping tabs on where they are throughout the night. An even better idea is to have a responsible adult supervise the group.

Most of these tips are common sense, but it’s good to go over them with your children so they are fresh. Using these tips can keep Halloween safe and fun for your children.

Nathan J. Nowak is the president of Professional Training Systems, Inc. and the owner of Trinity Fitness. Nathan has over 27 years of martial arts and self-defense training. He is the creator of “Are You Prepared?” A five week women’s self-defense course that can teach and train any woman how to defend herself and survive. For more information about Nathan and Trinity’s AYP? program, please go to www.trinitybody.com/selfdefense We can also be reached at 404.966.KICK (5425) or email at info@trinitybody.com