Family Safety Night:

A Guide to Help Families Stay Safe

First, gather the items listed below to use during your Family Safety Night:

• The whole family
• Food - Order in so everyone's focus is on the information and not the preparation
• Q-tips, paper bags and labels – one set for each child
• Camera (digital or film), tape measure, scale, computer and paper/pens

Once you have all these items, you are ready to have a fun night of learning about safety, gathering invaluable information and connecting as a family. Discuss the following topics and perform these activities during your Family Safety Night:
 
Home Safety – Ask some basic questions about safety in your home to make sure everyone has the same information. You can even make a game out of it. Ask questions like: Where is the first aid kit and the fire extinguisher? Where do we meet when there is severe weather?
 
Personal Safety – Remind your children that they are special and deserve to be safe. Reinforce the message that if they are ever in a situation or with a person who makes them feel uncomfortable or afraid they should immediately talk to a parent or other trusted adult. With small children we often label this as the “uh-oh” feeling. Play some “What If” games to make this loaded topic seem less scary. “What if we were separated in a store?” “What if someone asked you to keep a secret from your parent?”
 
Online Safety – Make a list of the online rules that your family agrees to follow. The Minnesota Internet Crimes Against Children task force has a list of suggested rules on its website, www.micac.da.ru.  Start there and create your own Family Internet Contract. Go online to www.jwrc.org and to www.netsmartz.org  to get additional information and games about staying safe online.
 
Five Trusted Adults – Make a list of five trusted adults outside your immediate family your children could call in case of an emergency or if they needed to talk about a problem. Let your children call the different adults to ask if they would be willing to be on a contact list. Post the phone numbers of the five adults next to the phone. If the children are older, add the numbers to their cell phones.
 
Personal ID Kit- Take a head-and-shoulders picture of each family member and record their age, height and weight. Take DNA of each family member: firmly rub the inside cheek with Q-tip for 30 seconds, place inside a paper bag and label with name and date. Remind your children that just like a snowflake, each person is unique. End your night talking about the traits in each family member that makes them unique and special.

A Printable Handout for Family Safety Night