It is essential that home security is important to all family members. Everybody needs to play a role and be involved in keeping the house safe and secure. Although discounts are offered by insurance companies to homeowners with security systems, actually the protection comes from members of the family who are responsible for taking all necessary precautions.
Children can be very useful when it comes to helping keep the house fully protected and safe. Home safety and security will become second nature to them if you teach them early. It is critical to provide them with the knowledge and tools they need to approach every situation confidently and safely.
Allow Your Children To Guide You
Whenever you are teaching your children the basics of home security, it is very important to allow them to guide you. You should take into consideration the age of your child, their judgment regarding safety and their understanding of the various steps that are involved. It can be frightening to place too much responsibility on children when they are young. Even older kids might get overwhelmed if you attempt to teach them too much too fast.
It is very important to begin teaching kids about home security immediately after you have installed a new system. Show them where the control panel is and how things work. Teach them basic things that they can do to help you, like calling 9-1-1 on the phone or hitting the emergency button located on the control panel. When you start them off at a young age, you will know when they are ready for handling certain tasks themselves.
Know Your Security System
When your security system is installed learn as much about it as you can. Speak to the technicians while they are installing your unit so you are familiar with how it works. You might even want your child to watch the entire process. After you system is installed and completely operational, start including your children whenever you disable or enable the alarm or any other functions.
Get a routine established for whenever you leave your house, return home from an outing, wake up first thing in the morning, and go to sleep at night. After your child has a good understanding of the things that need to be done, allow them to do a few of these chores themselves. Hands-on learning is the perfect way of teaching them how to use any kind of mechanical or electronic device.
Walk Through Various Scenarios With Your Kids
Most parents will plan an evacuation route in the event of a fire. Also, they will practice what needs to be done if there is severe weather. The same thing should be true for home security. Discussing various security scenarios will let your children see first hand what needs to be done in certain situations. If you have a child perform a task it will help them remember every step in the process.
Another thing that can help is to write down specific instructions that can be referred to. A binder can be created where the instructions for all scenarios can be stored. This will allow you to practice them regularly. Your instructions for severe weather precautions and fire drills can be placed in the binder also.
Get A Security Check List Created For Your Child
Whenever you are leaving your child alone at home, make sure they have a thorough understanding of all of the safety rules, including the following:
- Have a good grasp on how all of the locks in the house work, including the garage doors, windows, and doors.
- Absolutely no visitors.
- The gas grill, oven, and stove are all off limits.
- Stay in constant communication, via phone or text.
- In the event of an emergency, call 9-1-1 and go to a place of safety that you have determined ahead of time.
- Memorize all important personal information, in addition to how a parent can be reached in the event there is an emergency.
Before leaving home, be sure that a trustworthy neighbor is aware your children or child are home alone. Be sure to exchange phone numbers so either party can make contact if necessary. Also, make sure to have a list of emergency contact numbers nearby so your children always have easy access to them.
Our Final Words On Teaching Your Children About Home Security
It is always a major milestone for both your children and you whenever you leave them at home for the very first time. This right of passage gives them both more responsibility and more independence. This milestone will be reached by each child at different ages. This level of responsibility and trust should definitely not be taken lightly since you know your child the best.
You should teach every child according to what their abilities are when it comes to understanding security concepts without scaring them or causing them to become frightened. Teach your kids the proper precautions and provide the right tools to them so they can handle practically any situation as it occurs.
Pop A Lock Houston is available at all times to help you get your new home security measures installed and will be very happy to show your entire family how these new items should be used. Give us a call or contact us so we can discuss with you how your home can be secured and how your child can be made more comfortable with using the best practices in home security.