Trick-or-treat Safety Tips: Keep Your Kids Safe on Halloween

Trick-or-treating is a fun yearly event for children. Most kids love getting dressed up and get yummy candy from their neighbors. Because of the community-based nature of trick-or-treating, it can however be dangerous. Though most of your neighbors are good people, there are some things you, as a parent, need to be careful about when sending your kids out trick-or-treating.

1. Never send children out alone. You should always go with your children when they are trick-or-treating. If you can’t go with them for whatever reason, send an older sibling in your place. You may also want to have your children trick-or-treat with a group of friends.

2. Have your kids wear reflective clothing. You should make sure your children’s costumes are reflective or attach reflectors to their costumes. There are necklaces and other accessories available that contain reflectors made especially for trick-or-treating. It is important that your children are visible to drivers, especially if they are out after dark.

3. Be careful of which houses you allow your children to go to. Check familywatchdog.us (a website in which you can check for registered sex offenders in your neighborhood) before Halloween for houses your kids should avoid.

4. Make sure your kids’ costumes ate age-appropriate. If your child is young enough to be trick-or-treating, she is way, way to young to be dressed as a slutty witch. Just because they make certain costumes in children’s sizes doesn’t mean children should be wearing them.

5. Make sure that your children’s costumes are flame-resistant.

6. Don’t allow your children to go inside the houses. If someone asks your child to go inside their house, they should be prepared to leave the property immediately.

7. Stay on the sidewalks. If your neighborhood has sidewalks, there is no reason for your children to be walking in the road (except to cross the street, at crosswalks).

8. Inspect all candy before allowing your children to eat it. Throw out anything that is not in a sealed package (such as homemade treats) or if the seal has been broken. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

9. Finish trick-or-treating before dark. Your kids may complain that it’s not as much fun before dark, but they will be safer.

10. Make sure your kids stay away from unfamiliar areas. Also stay out of areas that you know to be the “bad part of town.”

Keep your kids safe this Halloween and share this article with all the parents you know!