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

To cap off the series we started on protection of children at home, here are further six expert steps to take:

Miniature Items and Small Toys should be in secure locations

Given the knack of kids to always try out things, the tendency for them to grasp whatever they see and put in their mouths is at an all-time high. In some cases, they clasp these objects in their hands, while in other cases, the objects may just slip into their mouths. And if the objects are so tiny enough, these objects might get lodged in their throats, causing them to choke on them.

You must, at all cost, avoid keeping these toys or objects within the easy reach of the children. And not even just objects, care must be paid when giving them pieces of food to eat as well. Make sure the food is small enough for them to swallow – one that would not choke them.

Smoke Alarms are the best pre-emptive prevention:

Of all home hazards, fire is considered the worst. To secure kids from the fire hazard, installing a smoke alarm makes you aware of such scenarios and helps you conquer them almost immediately. As you would agree, there is no smoke without fire, so installing a smoke alarm alerts you of any emergency that needs you to swing into action immediately. And when the alarm sets off, it is best to get all children outside the house first to save them just in case the fire gathers momentum and all escape routes become blocked.

Ensure all openings in your home are secure

The truth is, when children move around the house, they might be ignorant as to how a door or window in the house does open or close. In the process of understanding this, they might get their fingers wedged in the gaps of the door. Or in cases where they want to gaze from a higher floor, they end up opening the window of the bedroom from toying with it.

You see, it is best to have preventive locks on all doors and windows so they can be secure and not easily opened. If your house has a staircase, it is advisable you install a barrier somewhere at the base in order to prevent the children from crawling upstairs.

Always keep a First-Aid kit easily accessible:

A first-aid kit being available at home is a non-negotiable preventive measure. Listen, it doesn’t matter the rate and amount of work we put in to ensure that home hazards don’t take place, they still find a way to take place especially as it has to do with children. So in a bid to be safe and have a contingency plan, you need to have your house equipped with first-aid kits.

Not only that, learn the basics of CPR to revive your child’s breathing if they start choking or fall unconscious. Keep a first-aid kit ready with bandages, creams, burn lotions, bite antidotes, and anything that you think might be needed on an urgent basis. If you have a nurse or a person who is good at rendering medical aid, keep their contact details in the first aid box so that you can quickly get in touch with them.

Keep the doors locked and do not open to strangers

Indoctrinating children with the practice of not opening doors to strangers is also very vital. So if you have a new friend or there is a relative the children don’t know, do well to introduce them to the children. But the bottom line remains, for strangers, instructs children to never open doors to them.

In cases where you have an unannounced visitor and due to some reasons, the children do not recognize this visitor, instruct them to give you a call to confirm the visitor or the visitor places a call instead before letting them allow the visitor in. Giving them secretarial skills such as keeping records is an all-time value. Provide them a journal where they jot important information about visitors.

Know your caregivers:

Going wrong in the selection of caregivers for your children could be detrimental to the security of the child as sometimes this leads to exploitation and sometimes molestation of the children.

Gone are those days when women do not work, these days most women are obliged to work in order to support the family. Looking after the children then becomes difficult due to factors like distance from place of work to home, drudgery of work. As a result, most parents employ nannies, house-maids and even gateman to watch over their children. The truth is, you will be doing yourself a lot of good if you take your time to get the right caregiver for your children.

Train them to avoid sharing personal information without parents’ consent:

It is common knowledge that children, most of the time, can be very confident, wanting to flaunt the knowledge they have. When asked about their parent’s whereabouts, they are always eager to let visitors know. This is just a common innate trait of children, with the only time they won’t answer the question of “where are your parents?” is when they don’t know. It is important children develop the habit of querying a guest. They should be inquisitive in this aspect.

Questions such as: “Where are you from?” “What is your name?” should be asked. If there is any cogent reason a child is compelled to give out a phone number, name or any other confidential data, the child should seek the consent of his or her parent, or politely ask the guest to write down a note. This is keeping the children safe from harm however embarrassing it is for the guest.

Buy them security books so they can understand how best to protect themselves

Knowledge is the biggest leverage you can ever give to anyone — children are also not left out. You can’t teach them all, even their schools can’t teach them all, so when they have security books that detail how they can protect themselves, it boosts their security consciousness and expertise.

I have written a couple of security books that can be easily comprehended by children, can be read to them and explained to them for their security knowledge.

Let them memorize your phone number and emergency numbers:

This is quite common in this part of the world, but the truth is, it is one vital aspect you must not discount in keeping your kids safe. Having them able to recall your number would always come in handy when there is an emergency. Also, police and other emergency response agencies’ numbers should also not be out of reach for the children to call.

Police number in Nigeria: 112 or 199.

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.

Proverbs 22:17:

Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise,

And apply your mind to my knowledge;

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:

Facebook: Dr. O.E Bassey

LinkedIn: Dr. O.E Bassey

Twitter: Dr. O.E Bassey

WhatsApp: +2347065828892

Mail: EmmanuelBassey@gmail.com

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:

Facebook: Dr. O.E Bassey

LinkedIn: Dr. O.E Bassey

Twitter: Dr. O.E Bassey

WhatsApp: +2347065828892

Mail: EmmanuelBassey@gmail.com