Safety Tips For Halloween
The Top 3 Rules for All
Staying safe this Halloween should be a breeze, but I’m still going to take you all through three of the best safety tips just to make sure we’re on the same page. As with every other Halloween past time this year won’t be any different, the kids are going to want to trick or treat and all the Michael Myers and crazies will be out as well walking or cruising the same streets, whether you live in the suburbs or not you can never be too safe.
The number one rule we are going to want to follow is called the check time-the check time is a basic check in system for older children who wish to trick or treat with friends. You will have your child call you from a cell phone whenever the group decides to visit an unknown block or neighborhood along with the address of the first house. The reason for doing this is because if anything were to happen you would have the last known location. Many older children would prefer to trick or treat in a group as they cannot picture themselves with their parents taking them around to every house or store as when they were like two year old children.
The number two rule is called avoidance, this should take place in situations where children will come across weirdo’s but might not think anything of it. If your child spots something that is out of place with a candy giver or a particular person on the streets he or she would immediately find a way of notifying some kind of authority figure along with keeping a safe distance. The perfect scenario of avoidance would be a group of kids going to a home to trick or treat and upon ringing the doorbell the owner comes out drunk offering them candy or sorts and inviting them inside the home. The children would turn down the candy or anything offered because it could contain some kind of drugs, they would then alert authorities that the stranger tried to convince them to enter his or her home. Remember the stranger could be dangerous and some child out there might not be as aware of the safety procedures, they’d enter the stranger’s home, would be drugged or harmed in another way without anyone knowing.
The number three rule would be that all candy be checked and double checked for signs of misuse, torn wrappers, pin marks, discolorations etc. Even if your child has checked their candy you as parents should check it again as there may be something the missed.
Wear Bright Colors, Avoid Candy Apples
If doing late night trick or treating you should also make sure the costumes are in bright colors, at least an accessory that can be seen in a dark place. Trick or treating will involve crossing streets and in some suburbs the street lights are off at a certain time. Set a curfew as you would do on any other night, you will immediately know something is wrong if your children are past curfew which could help in cases of disappearances. Early alerts can save lives.
If unfamiliar with a certain neighborhood its best to stay away from it, usually going with your gut feeling is the best reaction even for kids. If you sense danger that could only mean danger is lurking.
If I were still a child going trick or treating I’d watch out for all the adult mask wearing street walkers in these certain type of costumes, the Scream mask with the black cape, Jason, Michael Myers, Fred Krueger, Barney. Yes there are so many others but think about it, adults normally would attend a Halloween party in a costume but they definitely should not be out walking the streets in a Halloween costume, we know they’re not trick or treating so what seems weird could be dangerously disturbing or just plain and simple danger.
I was a child around the time of the razor blades in the candy apples so I know personally that some people are just plain sick and will do it, my friend had one of those apples and to see the pain he went through let’s just say made me skeptical of candy apples altogether even the store bought ones. This brings us to another basics, a suggestion is to not let your child accept anything other than candy unless it’s a toy, this means no fruits or vegetables as some people have been known to give out.
Also if your child has asthma please don't allow visiting a haunted house, at least not one of the real scary ones because it will be dark n crazy easy for the asthma pump to get lost or people to not take notice of a child having a asthma attack right before them.
My family's going to stay in this Halloween watching a couple of horror flicks, the kids have all the candy they need right here as there is just something about this Halloween that does not feel safe, I go with my gut instincts that are usually right, but to everyone else enjoy your Halloween.
