5 Encouraging Ways to Teach Your Child About Home Safety

When it comes to the safety and security of your home, a home security system can only offer so much protection and a smoke detector can only do so much to keep you and your family safe from a fire. What effective home security and safety comes down to most is the people living in the household and the decisions they make.

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Decisions are derived from the thought process that leads up to it. That thought process comes from the knowledge and training that a person has been exposed to prior. If a home’s security and safety ultimately comes down to a decision, then it’s up to parents to properly teach their children how to act safely in and around the household. Not to say that accidents don’t happen, but with the right knowledge and proper training, these accidents can be avoided.

1. Don’t Scare, Teach

The best way to teach your child is to actually TEACH them. Fear is often used as a method to teach children, but this isn’t healthy for a developing mind by any means. Scaring someone into “learning” something may not be as effective as you think. That person may only continue to perform an action due to fear, rather than knowing why they should or shouldn’t do it. For instance, if you’re going to explain the potential dangers of the outside world, it’s important not to make them scared of these dangers because this could cause a child to never take risks when he or she grows up. Teaching them properly will give them confidence in their decisions. Investing time into teaching will encourage healthier learning, enhance one’s learning capacity and promote a sense of sharing when it comes to, not only safety, but knowledge in general.

2.Show and Tell

Children love to express themselves. When a child learns something new about home security or safety, the child should show the other parent or another family member what they learned. This allows for healthy learning as knowledge is passed along and communicated throughout the family. It also helps with the processing of this information, increasing the chances that this knowledge will stick in the child’s mind over a longer period of time.

3.Teach Them When to Say “No”…and “Yes”

Parents always seem to tell their children to say “no” to strangers or never answer the door if a child doesn’t know who is at the door. Although this is great advice, it may cause negative implications later on. However, this is understandable, since it’s in parents’ instincts to be protective of their children and be worried about their safety and security. However, if a child says “no” their whole life to people, how will they start to meet others? Of course, there’s always school, but that’s a separate world in itself. Since people tend to categorize things and places, this tendency to constantly say “no” to people can stifle their growth as a person, inhibit their abilities to meet new people or experience new things. As far as home security and safety goes, yes, every child should say “no”, but just remember, encourage them to say “yes,” too.

4. Establish Boundaries
Every child should have limitations. Otherwise, you’d be dealing with an untamed animal! But realistically, if a child doesn’t have boundaries, then your life will be a mess and they won’t be as safe as they should be. Home safety and security is exactly what boundaries are. Teach them about what’s off limits in every room of the house. Remind them it’s for their own good. As they grow older, these boundaries will slowly fade until they become independents. As the boundaries shift, this shows trust between parents and their child.

5. Positive Reinforcement

If you want someone to do something right, they first have to learn. One of the quickest ways to teach someone is through positive reinforcement. Whenever they do something right, send something positive their way. Whether it’s a compliment, words of encouragement or a treat (not just a snack, but something as simple as allowing them to play a video game for 15 minutes), let them know they are doing a certain task correctly. This is basic Psychology. So, when you find your child locking the door behind them or taking an extra safety precaution, let them know. People love to know they’re doing something right, especially when there’s an incentive involved.

Home security and safety is about the proper lessons that go into teaching children. These lessons should be encouraging, have long lasting positive affects and inspire them to spread and share that knowledge to others. This won’t just help with their understanding and practice of home security and safety, but will also enhance their overall judgment, decision making and cognition down the road.

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Samuel Ott is a blogger for Nightwatch Security, home security systems provider in Sedalia, MO. Nightwatch understands what matters most, family safety.