The kids are off school. The weather is nice. Summer comes with more activities for everyone—but’s it’s prime time for events specially geared toward families and kids. Opportunities abound for fun things like water parks and big outdoor events, plus the usuals, like the zoo and park.
Unfortunately, all the warm weather fun also means sizeable crowds.
It’s important to keep kids safe in public places. There are a few ways you can help do so beforehand. Have a plan and make it a regular conversation. Do not let the first time you talk about safety in a public place be right before a large event!
How to prepare your child for a public place
It’s important to prepare your child before entering a public place. Children as young as 2 can practice their own names. Knowing their parents’ full names and what to do if they get lost is an important aspect of staying safe in public. Older children can learn their parents’ phone numbers and their address. They can also help monitor their younger siblings in large crowds.
Practice identifying “tricky” people with your child. Often, children assume all strangers are unsafe. In contrast, they assume all familiar adults are safe adults—but neither always holds true. Talk to your child about unsafe or uncomfortable situations. These are conversations you should always have. Work them into everyday language, without making it scary or a big deal.
Reassure your child you have strategies in place for both yourself and them if something were to happen.
What to do if they get lost
A parent—or child—never wants to think about what will happen if they get separated from each other. Unfortunately, things can happen. Equip your children with strategies to use if they get separated from their caretakers.
Some helpful tips include:
- Stay where they last saw you. If you are looking for a child, it’s faster to go back to the last place you were together. This cuts down on the time the child is missing.
- Find the closest employee. If a child gets lost at a zoo or theme park, you want a fast solution. The fastest and safest way for them to be found is to go to the first employee they see. Teach your child to look for someone wearing a certain uniform or with a name tag.
- If they cannot locate an employee, a child should locate the closest adult. Often, a mother or father with children is a reliable choice.
For the parent of a child who gets lost in public: Be loud.
Things can happen quickly, especially with smaller children. And if there’s any time to shout and draw attention, it’s now. Yell identifiers about your child into a crowd. For example, “I am looking for a small boy with a blue shirt and black sweatpants! He has curly brown hair and white shoes!”
This allows your child to hear you shouting. It also quickly gets others involved in looking for your youngster. If something dangerous has happened or if the child simply has walked off, you want as much attention on you and the child as possible. You also want as many people as you can to help look for them.
Practical ways to stay safe in public
As parents, we always need to be aware while in public. Awareness prevents certain things from happening. And in safety, it’s often easier to stay aware and get ahead of possibly unsafe circumstances. We can’t always be with our children. When we are, we want to rule out any potential hazards beforehand.
By staying vigilant when we enter a situation, we can listen to our intuition. If we find ourselves in a potentially unsafe situation, we can choose to leave. Practical knowledge is important, but it’s also important to trust your intuition. If something doesn’t feel right, it may not be.
Ways for parents to keep themselves and their children safe in public:
- Be aware of your surroundings. Note the crowd, exits, where you parked your car, time of day and more.
- Have a plan. What will you do if you get separated? Where will you meet up?
- Identify what a child is wearing before the event. Write it down, take a picture, make a mental note or tell someone else.
Ways for a child to stay safe in public:
- Don’t talk to strangers.
- Be familiar with the area or don’t separate from the parent.
- Know important information in case of separation.
- Check in often with a parent or caregiver.
- Know what the caretaker is wearing.
- Have a plan: What will you do if you get separated? Where and when will you meet up?
Important information for your child to know
As your children grow, they can remember important information to keep them safe. Things like your full name and phone number as well as basic strategies to keep them safe. Practice learning important phone numbers often and incorporate them into casual conversations so that they become deeply ingrained. When times of stress occur, children are more likely to remember things they’ve memorized. If they’ve been practicing a phone number for months or years, they’ll be able to recall it automatically.
Continue the conversation
It’s important to teach your children what to do if they get lost. As hard as it may be, talk through uncomfortable situations—age appropriately, of course. And remember to continue the conversation you’ve begun about being safe in a public place. It’s less jarring for kids to have these conversations more than once.
Part of parenting is keeping everyone safe when you go to activities. Make sure a conversation about safety happens often, not just before the event happens. This way, before you go to a large event or even just everyday public outings, you can simply jog your kids’ memories rather than spring weighty information on them. Remind your children how to be safe and alert everywhere they go. This equips them to make safe decisions when you’re not with them.
Kailyn Rhinehart writes from Warrensburg, Missouri, where she lives with her husband and two small children.