Child Safety - Page 1
Your 10 year old comes home from school at 3:00 pm to an empty home. He either gets a snack or watches tv until you get home. He’s too old for daycare, but far from grown up. You worry, but what can you do?
You are not alone. Working parents – and that’s the majority of Canadian families today – share the anxiety, frustration, and fear involved in leaving children “on their own”.
- Make sure your children are ready to care for themselves.
- Teach them basic safety rules.
- Know where your kids are, what they are doing, and who they are with.
- Look into an after school program in our area (or your own area) see below:
After School Programs in or around St. Jamestown
Cabbagetown Youth Centre: 2 Lancaster Avenue 960-1032
Rose Avenue School: 393-1260
St. Jamestown Youth Group: 515-7884
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- Be trusted to go straight home after school?
- Easily use the telephone, locks, and kitchen appliances?
- Follow rules and instructions well?
- Stay alone without being afraid or lonely?
Talk it over with them, and listen to their worries and ideas. Work out rules on having friends over, household chores, homework, television and computers (if you must, look into child safe guards for the internet, or even put a password on your computer, both are easy). Staying at home alone can build a child’s self-esteem, sense of responsibility, and practical skills.
- How to call 9-1-1 or the operator.
- How to give directions to your home, in case of an emergency.
- To check in with you immediately after arriving home.
- To never accept gifts or rides from people they do not know.
- How to use the door, and the alarm system if you have one.
- To never let anyone into the home without asking your permission.
- Make sure they know how to answer the phone properly. Never say no one else is at home.
- Have them say: “Mom/dad can’t come to the phone right now”.
- To carry a house key with them in a safe place.
- What to do in case of a fire.
- To not go into an empty apartment if things don’t look right or the door is unlocked.
- To let you know about anything that frightens them or makes them feel uncomfortable.
- You may want to look into a pager for your child. If you are trying to get ahold of them by phone and they are on your home phone, you can page them and they will know to get off the line.
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