• Safety Tips:
• School Safety: Teen Parties
• Personal Safety: Being Organized Helps in Emergency
• Questions & Answer : What can I do to help missing children?
• Statistics: Time for Juvenile Crime
• One opinion, open for discussion: Helping Kids Surf

Community & School Safety:

Nervous about what your 15 year old is doing at those summer evening parties?

Many parents are in the same shoes, and offer the following suggestions:

1. Verify the location with an adult
2. Check if there will be adult supervision
3. Ask if there will be drugs or alcohol there
4. Offer an alternative activity for your child if you suspect it will be a "bad scene." Chances are your child just is looking for something fun to do.
5. Talk to your child, again, about what to do when offered drugs, or how to handle his/her emotions in an intimate situation. Trust your child, and be sure they know they can call you to come get them anytime, no questions asked Ð believe in them to know when they need to come home, without getting into trouble with you.

Need help with these talks? Visit http://www.talkingwithkids.org/

Next month: what to if your child hosts a party and someone else bring drugs.

Personal Safety Tip:

In the event of an emergency, every moment counts. Being organized can help you be prepared to deal with a crisis situation. Keep a list of the names and phone numbers, including addresses, of your child's school and camps, the school bus company, all your children's friends, neighbors, family members, non-custodial parent, and babysitters, and law enforcement, and your doctors and dentist.

This list should be posted inside of a cabinet near the phone, where it is easily accessible by anyone who may need it. If you are hurt, your child can call for help. If your child is missing, you can begin searching right away. A babysitter would know who to call if you can't be reached if this list is handy.

While you may only look at this list to make quarterly updates, it could also be a lifesaver in a moment of panic.

Question from a Reader, and Our Answer:

Q.What if I noticed a child in a chain store who I thought looked like a child in a missing child poster I glanced at a few minutes earlier? What should I do? I would fee terrible if it was the wrong child and I made an accusation!

A.If you notice a child that reminds you of the child in the poster and fear you are mistaken ask yourself this ~ what if it were your child who was missing, wouldn't you want any tip and to know strangers were concerned?

To learn more about this topic: visit http://www.vca.org/pages/support.htm The Vanished Children's Alliance is a national organization which provides support for families whose children have vanished.

Operation Lookout is another organization which is designed to help. Visit http://www.operationlookout.org/, and learn about this non-profit organization which grew from concerned citizens. You can offer anonymous tips there too.

If you don't have a tip, you can still help. There are ways to offer financial support that will cost you nothing. Explore the "How you can help" page for either organization, and join in the growing effort to raise awareness of missing children. You can donate your old car that you don't want to resell, and they will make money from your "junk," and you get a tax write off. Or participate by shopping online and stores will make contributions to these organizations.

Statistics: Juvenile Crime

In 1999, 57 percent of serious juvenile crimes occurred from 3 to7 p.m., reports the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Juveniles are more likely to be victims of violent crime between the hours of 3 and 9 p.m.

Learn how to prevent crime and keep youth safe by reading the related source article at: http://www.nea.org/neatoday/0009/health.html

One Opinion, Open to Discussion:

A recent survey reports that 25% of youth between 10-17 that use the Internet have accidentally been exposed to sexual materials, according to the US Dept. of Justice. (Highlights of the Youth Internet Safety Survey can be found through this link. http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/ojjdp/fs200104.pdf) How can this exposure happen? Much more easily than a parent may imagine, especially for a poor speller. It may be just a one letter error, but it also may take your child far from the expected cartoon characters and into the straight view of nude photos of women instead. For some children, this is quite disturbing. And for many parents as well.

While a parent can protect a child from walking into an inappropriate storefront, or help steer the child away from explict videos in a rental store, it can be tricky to protect your children from stumbling in cyberspace. As mentioned in previous newsletters, it is important for home and school computers to have a filter installed to reduce the chances that children are exposed to inappropriate materials. Yesterday, television may have brought the shock of Elvis wiggling his pelvis into the livingroom, but today the Internet can bring explicit shock right into your child's face.

Children really do need to be taught how to surf, just as they must be taught how to walk around the block alone safely. The modern challenge is learning how to teach our children how to stay safe online. We know how to teach telephone safety, (To say "She can't come to the phone right now," rather than "I am home alone until she gets home,") and we have to figure out what to say to our children if a frightening scene appears on screen. It certainly opens up conversations that you may never have dreamed of having.

For young children or poor spellers, be sure you have set up a list of favorite sites, with the spelling stored in the computer's memory, for safe shortcuts. Install a filter. Set up your child's own opening page with his or her own icons.

Depending on your particular child, and their age, you may find yourselves learning about the victimization and exploitation of people, and how to advocate against such issues. You may even do this together online!

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