Leaving the Kids Home Alone? Safety Guidelines to Consider

If there is a situation where you must leave your kids home while you go out, the most important aspect is considering home alone safety. Although the “Home Alone” movies are probably exaggerations of what may happen to a kid and his resourcefulness in handling such a harrowing situation, home safety is often threatened in many communities. If you can avoid it, don’t leave your kids home alone. If you must, here are important safety guidelines to consider.

Child Safety Kit

Get a child safety kit done on each of your children. This is typically performed on children under 14 whose parents want to take precautions. It’s invaluable in case a child ever goes missing. It takes things like fingerprints and sometimes DNA swab. As long as you present it as a fun adventure and sort of like helping play detective, kids won’t object and may even have fun with it.

Make Yourself Accessible

When you have to leave your kids home alone, make sure that they know how to get in touch with you. Leave your phone number written in large numbers on the fridge, taped to the back side of the front door, and taped to each child’s room. Although this may seems excessive, its’ better to be safe than sorry. Some kids can lose a single piece of paper. If you have more than one cell phone or a cell phone plus the number of the place you’ll be, given them both numbers. Also teach your children to text, and have your email address given out as well. Make sure that each child understands the difference between an emergency and simply wanting to talk to you.

Safety Drill

While you don’t want to scare your children before leaving them home alone, it’s important to have a safety drill. Make sure that your children know how to safely escape in the event of a fire or in case of another event that may threaten your area, such as a hurricane, tornado or flood. Make sure that all of the children know how to dial 911, and make sure that they know how to use all of the phones in the house, even the ones in your room, in case there’s ever a time when they have to hide out and call. It’s an outside chance, but it’s important to know that they are empowered in any possible situation.

Make up possible scenarios, then have the children answer them verbally or act out a response, such as what to do if a sibling starts to choke or where to go if a fire breaks out. Try to cover as much ground as possible, while watching out not to terrify very small children, who may already be upset about the fact that you have to leave for a while.

Talk to the Oldest Kids

Your older children will be able to have a better grasp on the situation. Let them know that they are in charge and that you trust their judgment. They need to know CPR and basic precautions to take with the younger children. If there are allergies in the family or kids that must take medicine, the older child needs to know how to take care of the situation safely.

Set Alarms

Never leave the kids home alone without setting alarms for your house. The children need to know how to work the alarms, in case they must flee in an emergency. Go over the alarm system with all children, but make sure that teens know that sharing this information with any other person is a serious offense to you. Kids sometimes share alarm info, but that can end up getting into the wrong hands. Make sure that the children also know how to call your alarm company in case there are any problems or malfunctions with the alarm system.

Ask a Neighbor for Help

If you must leave your children home alone, let the neighbor know. Make sure that it’s a neighbor that you know extremely well and trust with your life, though. Otherwise, let a relative know. Have them come over and check on the children at a designated time and to just keep a watch on the house for any odd goings-on. This can really help ensure that your children are kept safe.