The past couple of weeks have brought a number of reports focused on the myriad ways that parents can ensure the safety of their children on Halloween. Most of those articles focus on stressing visibility and eliminating tripping hazards, but a new article takes a look at how children can be protected from predators during the holiday. The tips hail from the National Crime Prevention Council and AlertID.
First, every route should be plotted out before the child goes trick-or-treating. Parents should have a general idea of who is living in the homes their children are going to be traveling to, and they ought to avoid those residences that pop up on a sex offender database.
When the child is actually out and about, they need to visit only those houses that have the lights turned on and ample lighting throughout the exterior and interior of the residence. They should never go inside the home to retrieve candy, and they should know to scream and run if an adult ever attempts something inappropriate.
Parents can do their part for safety by traveling with their children when they’re trick-or-treating. Rather than simply walking with them and waiting at the end of the block or even at the end of the walk leading up to the house, parents should walk with the children right to the door. This can go a long way toward ensuring safety.