Children sometimes have the potential to affect the general security of the homes they live in. This isn’t purposeful, but simply a risk – when it comes to security, there’s so many loose variables that need to be tightly watched and controlled in order to maximize safety. Since children can be spontaneous and mischievous, they can compromise home security without ever intending to do so. Here’s some ways that your children can mess with security plans, and how you can best mitigate these risks to make your household safe for children and adults alike.
Strangers
One of the most essential things that parents and homeowners need to teach children is about the risk of strangers. Children need to be taught that telling personal information regarding themselves, their families, or their household creates a dangerous risk for them and the whole family. Many burglars know that children can be a potential weak link in home’s security, and they will try to exploit this in order to gain access into your home. It’s 100% necessary to tell your children that you understand how important it is to protect themselves and their families from stranger danger.
Keeping a Safety Plan
Ensuring a safety plan is a fantastic way to enforce the security of your home, but it only works when you children fully understand the plan. This allows you to have the advantage of knowing that everyone in the household is prepared in the event of any security risk. This is the only way to ensure that your plan is successful. It’s smart to regularly review these plans, and even practice them just so you know that your children understand exactly what to do. Even if children are somewhat prone to being scared of things, it’s wise to educate them of the real dangers involved in understanding this home security plan to the dot – of course in a way that’s respectful of their position as children.
Security Technology
All homes should be outfit with alarms and security devices that implement measurements reacting to any burglary or forced entry, as well as functioning to prevent or deter any forms of burglary. As a homeowner, you need to make sure that your children understand the value of home security drives, and know how to operate them. Children should be taught on how to arm and disarm security devices, so that they house is never left vulnerable (and the police aren’t accidentally called when a kid comes home early by themselves.) These practices should become second nature for children – and they’re not too complicated for even young children to master. That being said, children need to be taught that these simple-to-operate – yet technically complex devices are not toys, and shouldn’t be played around with.
Proper Door Behavior
Teach children that doors need to be closed behind them, and how to properly answer the door when they are the only person home. Children should be taught not to give the impression that they are home alone when answering the door, and not to let any information that could imply this casually slip. Children have somewhat of a propensity for betraying sensitive information without knowing, so they should be taught not to do this, all the while still being taught the value of honesty towards family, friends, and non-strangers.
Garages
Many modern homes are fit with motion sensor operated garage doors that can be mistakenly activated if children leave bicycles or toys in the driveway in front of the door. If your garage is attached to your home directly, this can severely increase the chances of somebody breaking into your home. It’s important for your children to be aware of this risk, and check themselves, self monitoring their actions in order to prevent it from happening.
Curtains
Most burglars case out properties before deciding to attempt a break-in. They do this by sneaking peeks into your home through windows, figuring out where you keep things and if there’s any particularly valuable items that they would want to steal. This is why it’s always wise to keep your home’s visibility close in mind when you’re figuring out your home security plan. Children should be taught that curtains and shutters should be closed, or at least semi-obscured so that your home has a security-safe level of privacy. This is as simple as teaching your children a lesson in the value of privacy.
