It can be a dilemma when deciding to talk to your child about home security as you don’t want to make them fearful, but at the same time, you do want to be sure that they are safe in their own home.
Here are some pointers on how to teach your child the importance of home security without frightening them, including a look at how to approach the subject in the right way, creating some emergency procedures, and giving them the confidence to understand and cope with the concept of staying safe in their home.
Time for a family discussion
A good way of raising the topic of home security without causing your child any undue anxiety would be to have a family discussion after a relaxing meal.
You will have to stress the importance of being aware of the dangers they could face in their home and dealing with an emergency situation. Still, if you manage to get all this information across in a more relaxed atmosphere, it should help them cope with some of the scary bits that need to be discussed.
Getting to grips with a home alarm system
If you are thinking about having a home security system installed, you might read about home monitoring assistance and reviews to gauge which options serve your needs the best.
Once that is sorted and you have a home security system in place, you will want to ensure that your child has a basic understanding of how to navigate the system and what buttons to use when disarming the system they need urgent help.
The guidance you give them will obviously need to be appropriate to their age, so use your common sense to work out how much detail you give them. If you have a child of school age, they should take in useful details that could prove vital in an emergency.
Accidentally tripping your security can be costly and a major inconvenience if the emergency services are called to your property, so it makes sense to teach your child how to arm the alarm system and turn it off if there is a false alarm.
A plan of action
Although you are no doubt conscious that you don’t want to scare your child with talk of intruders and other emergency scenarios such as a house fire, it is much better to have an emergency plan that the whole family knows rather than leave anything to chance.
It can actually help to calm your child if they know exactly what they have to do in an emergency and how to exit the property in the safest way possible or call for help.
Have a practice drill to test their understanding of the procedures, and if you turn it into a bit of a game, it will be a valuable lesson learned in a fun way.
Teach your kids to lock windows and doors if they are in the house on their own for any period of time and encourage them to think about home safety in a positive way so that they are more confident than frightened about the prospect of coping with an emergency.
Molly Atkinson writes about home security. Her own home was burgled 2 years ago, and she now takes it upon herself to educate homeowners, making them realise that it could happen to them.