Protecting Your Child at Home (II) — Our Security, Our Peace by Dr. O.E Bassey

Chances of them encountering disasters or mishaps in this quarters should be eliminated to zero.

In all sense, it is catastrophic to have to report unfortunate incidents happening to a child at home where it is expected they are protected from dangers.

As ideal as the ‘home safety’ for a child is to talk about or even fantasize about, putting it to work is where the work lies.

However, to make it easy and solid for you, the thrust of this series which pioneered last week.

To protect your child at home, take to the following nuggets:

Be their friend and ask timely questions

Aside from knowing who their friends are is the importance of you yourself being friends with them. In fact, you should be their best friend. Your child should not have a best friend outside you. You should not be too busy to cultivate a friendship with your child, such that you know everything about them down to their day-to-day happenings.

You must be willing to ask them questions about their life: school, friends, movies, cartoons, books, and everything they find interest in. You must be willing to listen to them talk. You must show them you care about them and want to know more about them.

When they see this concerned and friendly action from you, they tend to open up to you as they would to any of their friends, and by that, you have ample knowledge about them, and as such, know the right security decisions to take from your end to protect them from any harm in a bid to ensure they grow up well-sound and trained to live up to potential. It is only an informed parent that can make the right security decision.

Always check their school bags and ask questions when you see a strange item

Anything is likely to spring up from school. Anything is likely to spring up when you are not at home. Children are most likely to hide items they don’t want anyone to see in their school bag because to them, no one would check the school bag since everyone tends to believe it is only books and other school materials that would be there. Their friends at school might also decide to play a prank on them or carry out some mischief such that they plant something dangerous in the bag of the child unknowingly to the child. If you don’t check for all these, the life of the child is endangered. But when you check, you are able to avert whatever potential danger lies in wait for them. Once again, the need to be an observant and vigilant parent comes to the fore.

Don’t train them to flout laws

Children tend to be emboldened if they don’t get punished for doing wrong – from the simple things down to the huge ones. So, when you punish them when they disobey and make them understand that what they did was wrong and how endangering it was to them, they tend to always be obedient to instructions. So, when next you leave an instruction, they know better than to disobey.

Also, it must be stated that children learn best by example. So, if you don’t want them to disobey instructions, you should also not be one that disobeys instruction.

When you are in the car driving and the kids are with you, and the traffic light says stop, yet you didn’t stop, you zoomed off, you are indirectly teaching them to flout laws. When your boss in the office calls you in their presence and asks you to resume by 8am, and after the call drops, you whine and grumble about it, and even affirm you won’t, you are indirectly teaching them that to disobey is normal.

Children see parents and elderly ones as role models, hence tend to emulate whatever acts they see them do. So if you want to teach them effectively to be obedient to rules and instructions, then you must set an example for them. Then you must be a role model in this aspect. Children are incurable copy-cats: what you do, they do; what you don’t do, they don’t do.

All Chemical Solutions should be out of reach:

Naturally, children are very inquisitive. They always want to find out about things. And like a saying goes, curiosity kills the cat.

In the light of the fact that many detergents and pesticides have this appealing fragrance that draws one’s attention, a child’s curiosity might be piqued from there, making them fondle with the bottles, containers, nylons. In the process of doing this, they could mistakenly inhale toxic fragrance or even take a sip. Therefore, it is best to keep chemicals locked in a cabinet or a high shelf where children can’t reach.

All Electrical Portals Should Be Childproofed:

Considering the inquisitive nature of children, here is also another preventive measure. All electrical portals with their plug points and holes always call the attention of children to meddle with them and even plunge their fingers into them to feel what it is like in there.

What is more, exposed devices and cables around the house are always inviting for them to play around with and put in their mouths. All these are dangerous scenes and actions for children and the home must be properly secured to prevent all these from happening. You must ensure that you cover all sockets with integrated covers at all times. Also, educate your kids about electricity and the dangers that come with it.

Consult Security Experts in the Construction of Buildings

Before the construction of a building that will house children, it is vital a security expert is consulted to work with the architect or the builder in seeing to it that crime prevention is incorporated into the construction design in a bid to stave off dangers that could be detrimental to children.

Many a times we construct buildings without taking into cognizance safety protocols such that when all is done, we end up with damage control when a damage prevention could have been put in place from the outset of the construction.

Not only is it important we engaged these experts before construction, during and after are also critical as their experience and expertise could have them identifying at-risk details in the house and proffering appropriate security solutions.

To know more about protecting your child at home, I co-authored a book, along with my wife who is an educationist, to that purpose: Child’s Best Interest.

You can get the book on Amazon or reach out to me on WhatsApp for a direct copy.

Ephesians 6:4: Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord.

Dr. Ofonime Emmanuel Bassey is a Security, Peace and Conflict Resolution Coach with decades of experience in the practice and promotion of Law Enforcement, Peace and Security through the Nigeria Police and the United Nations.

He is an advocate of Peace Leadership and Child Protection.

He has served and interacted at the top level management of the Nigeria Police as well as internationally as a United Nation’s Monitor/Mentor in Kosovo, Europe.

A professor of Peace Advocacy and Conflict Resolution, Dr. O.E Bassey is a certified United Nation’s Trainer, and currently the Director of ICOF Institute of Leadership, Peace and Conflict Resolution in Africa.

With his marks well-established in Peace Leadership both in Nigeria and Africa. Currently, he is the President, NISSI Safety Management Institute: An Institute of Peace Leadership.

Presently, he is spearheading a campaign tagged “The Next Peace Leaders”, a campaign that is billed to run from 2022-2023 with a target of training 37,000 young peace leaders.

For peace and security tips, consultations and trainings, reach him via:

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WhatsApp: +2347065828892

Mail: EmmanuelBassey@gmail.com