Simple Things You Can Do Today To Protect Your Children (Part 1 in a series)

Clearly, there are things that most people know about when it comes to protecting children like always buckle them up - in the backseat, always keep some sort of eye on them etc, but there are lesser known, lesser used thing that can protect your children.

This is the first part in a series on simple things you can do today to protect your children.


1. Get a family password

I remember our family having one when I was in elementary school and my parents were still in the military. I clearly and confidently told the soldier that was instructed by one of my parents to pick up my brother and me from school that we weren't going if he didn't have the password. He did; we climbed in the backseat.

A family password is pretty much what is sounds like. A word, preferably a phrase, that only the family knows and only uses when they need it to convey safety. For example, if a Mom tells her son that she will pick him up after soccer practice, but then plans change for whatever reason and she is no longer able to pick him up (such as a car accident). She then can send someone with the password to pick-up her child. The password will convey to the son that this pick-up person is safe and part of the new plan.

There are important points to this idea:

- Passwords aren't a good use for your messed up household planning. They should only be used in an emergency, not because your dentist appointment ran late.

- Phrases are better than single words for the same reason that internet passwords often require punctuation. Phrases are harder to guess.

- Along those lines passwords are better when they don't make sense in normal conversation. For example, green airplane is a better password than big airplane and hairy lamppost is better than tall tree. Think of things that are easy for your children to remember. Better yet ask them for their help coming up with one. It's likely they will remember the password better that way.

- If it's used once it's probably still safe. Used twice and it should be changed.

- Some people are automatically safe, meaning they don't need the password. I recently talked to a friend about this idea and she told me that they discussed with their kiddo the list of people who aren't required to have the password to pick him up for example. The parents trust these people enough that it doesn't matter.

- The most important point besides teaching your children that it's a secret is to teach them that even if they know the person if the person isn't on the safe list they must have the password. For example, I know my friend's kids, but since I am not on their family safe list if I go pick the children up unexpectedly I must have the password. My friend's son knows this. kids tend to think that because they know someone that that means the person is safe so it's very important that we as parents remember to teach our child that even the coolest of people isn't always the safest and needs the family password to change the plans.


Have a family meeting, get a password and protect your children.

Come back in the near future for more on this series!