Halloween Safety Tips for your Trick or Treaters

October is Crime Prevention Month so the National Crime Prevention Council has several initiatives going on to help cut down on crime. Halloween is one of those nights – mischief, drinking and parties can all lead to bad things happening.

Here are a few tips from the NCPC (www.ncpc.org) for the younger crowd to help keep the night safer for them and a more positive, fun experience.

• Trick or Treat indoors at a mall or church – The kids are contained. The weather is perfect and you can see everyone who’s giving out candy.

• Go for short costumes, comfortable shoes and make-up instead of masks. All these can help avoid tripping, bumping into things and not paying attention to traffic.

• Insist your older child trick or treat with a group of friends. Accompany any younger children yourself. If you live in a rural area, you may want to drive your kids around (or into town for an indoor event – see above)

• Give your kid a time limit and know exactly what streets they’ll be on so you can find them easily if you need to. Stress to them that going through alleys, backyards or open space isn’t the safe way to move around.

• If possible, send them out before the sun goes down. If not, make sure they have flashlights or glow sticks or something so they can see and so others can see them. Consider putting reflective tape on their costumes.

• Charge up cell phones if they are old enough to carry one.

• Remind your older tricksters that vandalism is a crime that you won’t tolerate. See if you can figure out what your child’s plans really include.

• This is a great time to remind them NEVER go into a stranger’s house or get in a stranger’s car. Ever. No matter what they might say.

• Feed your kid before they go out so they can better resist the temptation to gobble candy while they walk. Ask your kids to wait until they get home to start eating so you can see exactly what they got in their candy bucket.

• Spread out the loot in a well-lighted area so you can get a good look at it. You are looking for opened or broken pieces or anything that doesn’t look right, but you can make it funny by asking what house gave out the toothbrushes or pencils!

• Check out anything homemade and see if they can remember where they got it.

• Set a limit on how much they eat that night. Since Halloween is on a Sunday this year, you’ll want to make sure they don’t get sick from all the candy and have to stay home Monday morning!

Check out all kinds of safety tips and initiatives at www.ncpc.org . Happy Halloween – it’s only 20 days away now!