How to Have a Safe Halloween

With Halloween right around corner, the last thing you want is your child or teen getting hurt or killed while simply trying to enjoy the holidays. Here are some tips to help keep your family safe and happy this Halloween.

1. Make sure you know where your child is going to be trick-or-treating: Either go with your child and supervise where they collect candy or have a close-knit group of friends and other kids with your child at all times. Tell your child to stay with the group at all times until he gets home, and to not get in the car with other people that are not from the group or go inside someone’s house unattended.
2. Watch the roads: While most people are at home on Halloween, there are a lot of drunk joy-riders out there who wouldn’t think twice about running over some poor kid. Make sure your child knows what to do when crossing streets and roads, and make sure that they have a fairly bright costume or accessory so drivers can see them in the dark. Have your child carry a flashlight as well.
3.  Inspect the candy: Make sure to inspect the candy before your child eats it. Carefully look at each piece and if you find any unwrapped candy, throw them away. Any candy that looks like it may have been previously unwrapped, toss. Any small puncture holes of suspicious looking tears in the wrappers you should throw away too. If you don’t believe in tampered Halloween candy, read this article.
4. Have common sense: Don’t let your child start dancing in the middle of the street because everyone else is doing it. If you feel like trick-or-treating is just too dangerous, have a small party at home. Bake some cookies, make some punch, and watch TV, it will be a good bonding experience for you and your child.

And remember. If your teens are going out, just tell them to be careful and set a time when they should be back home. Have them call, or you call, to check and see if every things O.K.

And above all, have a Happy Halloween!

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