Some Safety Tips and Hints for Parents
Even the best of parents can use a reminder now and then of how to keep their children safe. We don't wish to promote paranoia, but these are uncertain times we live in. Tragedies occur every day, and many of them could be avoided with some simple precautions.

Use your eyes, ears and intuition to help you protect your children. The best thing you can do keep your child from harms way is to be aware and observant of you and your child's surroundings. Communicating with your child is also important. Always strive to keep the lines of communication between you and your children open and active! Even a small child can grasp the concept of safety and can be taught what to do in various situations. But someone has to teach them and nobody is better suited for that than you!

These tips can help you:

• Always know where your children are.
  
• Insist they ask permission to go to a friend's house or play in the neighborhood.
  
• Be sensitive to changes in your child's behavior.
• Keep the lines of communication open so you can ask your child what is going on.
  
• Be alert to a teenager or adult who is paying an unusual amount of attention to your child or giving them inappropriate or expensive gifts.
  
• Remember what your child is wearing each time your child leaves the house.
  
• Do not allow your child to wear any clothes that has your child's name in a place visible to others; personalizations can help a kidnapper gain your child's trust

Advice for handling sticky situations
It's important to teach your child to be polite and friendly, but it's just as important to let them know they can be suspicious of adults who make they uncomfortable or ask for assistance.

Teach your children early to:

• Trust their feelings. Their gut instincts are probably right
  
• Have the right to say no to something they think is wrong
  
• Not to keep secrets from you-their parents.

Cyberspace safety
Increasing use of the Internet, especially by children, has opened up a whole new avenue of vulnerability of children to fall victim to predators. Though the Internet is a powerful tool for children, it can also be a dangerous place if they are misled. These tips can help you make cyberspace a safe place for your young loved ones.

• Keep the computer in a central location, such as the kitchen or family room, rather than in a childs' bedroom. This way, everyone in the family has access to it.
  
• Don't use computers and online services as electronic baby-sitters.
  
• Set and discuss reasonable rules for using the computer.
  
• Become familiar with the services your child can access and how they work
  
• Show interest in how your child is spending time online and have your child explain what he or she in learning.
  
• Never give out identifying information or personal information in a pubic message such as chat or bulletin board and be serue you're dealing with someone both yo and your child know and trust before disclosing inderying ifmoration ion an e-mail.
  
• Beware of any offers that involve meeting someone.
  Encourage your child to inform you of any unusual requests, messages or other situations they may encoutener on the computers.
  
• Notify your online service of any inappropriate situations your child may encounter