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Tuesday, August 26, 2025

Tips for keeping your children safe this vacation

by

Kejan Haynes
415 days ago
20240706

The Chil­dren’s Au­thor­i­ty is re­mind­ing par­ents that even though the Ju­ly/Au­gust va­ca­tion is a time for leisure, fun and ex­plo­ration, there is a need for all adults to re­main watch­ful, and safe­guard all chil­dren from abuse, mal­treat­ment and phys­i­cal harm.

• Teach chil­dren about con­sent, which in­cludes:

No one has a right to touch their body

Ok and Not Ok touch­es

It’s okay to say “no” to un­want­ed hugs, kiss­es, or oth­er af­fec­tion, even from fam­i­ly

mem­bers

• Know who is su­per­vis­ing your child when he/she is spend­ing time away from home.

Ask about sleep­ing arrange­ments

Ask who fre­quents the house­hold

Ask about firearms and oth­er weapons

Ask about safe­ty plans

• Mon­i­tor your child’s friend­ships, es­pe­cial­ly with adults who re­peat­ed­ly at­tempt to

spend time alone with your child, away from oth­ers.

• Be aware of your child’s on­line ac­tiv­i­ty. Be alert to changes in be­hav­iour, as sud­den

changes in a child’s be­hav­iour or emo­tion­al state, may in­di­cate a prob­lem.

• Utilise non-phys­i­cal forms of dis­ci­pline to re­duce in­ci­dents of phys­i­cal abuse.

• Keep a watch­ful eye on chil­dren at the beach, riv­er and pool, and se­cure open

con­tain­ers of wa­ter at home.

• En­sure that po­ten­tial haz­ards at home are well-stored and kept out of the reach of

chil­dren.

• Teach chil­dren about road safe­ty.

• Re­mind chil­dren of emer­gency con­tact num­bers and what should be done in case of

an emer­gency.

“A lack of ad­e­quate su­per­vi­sion and care­giv­er aware­ness, chil­dren are more vul­ner­a­ble to ac­ci­dents, harm and abuse. There­fore, par­ents and guardians are en­cour­aged to make suit­able arrange­ments for the care of chil­dren dur­ing their va­ca­tion, ” the Au­thor­i­ty said

Mr. Shel­don Cyrus, Di­rec­tor/Chief Ex­ec­u­tive Of­fi­cer of the Au­thor­i­ty, en­cour­ages per­sons ipo­si­tions of trust, to re­port all in­stances of abuse and mal­treat­ment to­wards chil­dren. Mr. Cyrus says, “we all have a role in safe­guard­ing our na­tion’s chil­dren, as child abuse is not just a fam­i­ly is­sue but a so­ci­etal prob­lem that re­quires our col­lec­tive re­sponse”.


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