Summer Crowds and Child Safety

summer crowds and child safety

With the summer comes events, summer activities by the masses, and of course travel to popular kid-friendly destinations. All of these come with their fair share of crows (I mean that is where the fun is)! So we decided to sum up our experience and knowledge of how to be mindful and prepare for summer crowds and child safety.

The common thing we all know is to teach our kids their full names, our names, their address, however, that is not always easy for a toddler (nor for someone to understand them). Furthermore, we try to get them to stray away from talking to strangers, so how to really be sure they know who is a safe person to seek help from? Crowds and child safety associated with crowds…it can be worrisome, to say the least.

Here are some tips we have collected over the years that may help with these parental concerns in a crowd.

Summer crowds and safety

Mark Them Up

I recently saw a mom do this. We were at an Expo, and the first thing the mom did was come up to the first booth and ask for a pen. Not to enter the draw, but she took each of her children’s hands and wrote down her phone number. I thought, wow, genius idea!

Why not just make it easy for you to be contacted if someone finds your child. Write your emergency contact information on them, or put in a card in their pocket, or on a bracelet that they would keep on.

Harness

Until I had a running, and I mean running, toddler, I did not really see the awesomeness of this creation. Have them with you in some device, whether it be a stroller, carrier if they are small enough, or a harness which is attached to your hand. This is such a piece of mind. They are becoming more and more popular, and less “leash” feeling. Hey, do what you have to do mamas. My sister used this approach while traveling with her two kids alone, and wow…it was a game changer, I tell you.

Educate 

Teach your child how you can be found. If your children are older, you can set a designated place to meet up if your family gets separated. However, a young child might find this location hard to remember. Teach them how to identify police or firemen and that they are your child’s friends if you are not around.

Pics, Pics, Pics

A picture with your smartphone, that is, on your way out the door to your outing. Have some visual ID on hand. Hopefully, this will just be a record of your fun day, but if you do get separated from your child, you have a recent photo to show others helping you search.

 

These are just some tips we have on crowds and child safety, but let us know if you have any others that we can share!

 

*Images courtesy of Shutterstock

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