Trick-or-Treat: 5 Ways to Keep Your Kids Safe This Halloween

As the calendar edges toward autumn, children begin to look forward to the holidays of Halloween. They know that this time of year means that they can go door to door and trick-or-treat for candy and goodies. As enjoyable as this time of year can be for both you and your kids, you would also do well to remember some basic strategies that will make these festivities even more fun and memorable. Before your children set out for their annual trick-or-treating, you would do well to follow these practical safety strategies.

1) Go in Groups or with Adult Supervision

The adage about safety in numbers should come to mind before you allow your children to go trick-or-treating. Depending on the age of your kids, you may allow them to go in groups with their friends around your surrounding neighborhood. Older children, especially those in middle school, could be mature enough to stick together and avoid going off on their own without your immediate supervision.

However, your kids can be kept safer and have more fun when you go along with them on Halloween. Kids who are accompanied by trusted adult are less likely to get hurt, wander off, or encounter dangerous situations. If you walk along or drive your kids around the area, you can make sure they go to well-lit houses, avoid going into strangers’ houses or taking rides with people they do not know and stay safe as they walk up and down the sidewalks and roads in your neighborhood.

2) Stay Visible at Nighttime

Trick-or-treating is an activity that is designed to take place in the dark of night. In fact, the sun usually sets early on the evening of these holidays, giving kids an early head start on the holiday’s festivities. However, the early setting sun means that drivers may not be able to see kids walking in the roads or on sidewalks close to the curb. To avoid being hit as they go around the neighborhood, your kids should be as visible as possible when they go trick-or-treating.

You can make sure that drivers see your children by giving them a flashlight to carry or by putting reflective tape on their costumes. You can also give them glow-in-the-dark bracelets and necklaces to wear. In fact, kids typically love to wear glow bracelets or necklaces and also like the added look these accessories give to their costumes.

3) Have Your Route Planned

Even if you plan on staying in your immediate area, you should still have your trick-or-treating route planned out for that evening. Knowing what roads you plan to drive or walk along and what houses you plan to visit that night will ensure that you and your kids stay safe as you are out enjoying the festivities.

Going into an unknown neighborhood or visiting a part of the city that perhaps is less than safe as others could be ill advised if you want to make sure your kids avoid getting hurt or encountering dangerous situations. Rather than risk your holiday’s fun, you can make sure the night goes well by having a planned route in mind before you leave your house.

4) Wear Athletic Shoes and Sensible Clothing

Halloween calls for kids and adults alike to dress up and show off their best creative costumes. Even so, you can prevent both you and your kids from suffering physical injuries by making sure that all of you are wearing sensible shoes and clothes.

Girls, for example, often like to dress up as princesses or their favorite cartoon characters for this holiday. They may want to wear high heels, flowing gowns and long scarves when they trick-or-treat. Likewise, boys often like to dress in costumes that make them look like ninjas, soldiers and superheroes, complete with face masks, scarves and other burdensome accessories.

As fun as these costumes can be, however, they also cause your son or daughter to get injured. High heels can cause a girl to fall down and suffer an injury to her leg or ankle, for example. Long gowns, capes, scarves and other accessories can brush up against the candles in lit pumpkins and start a fire. Likewise, you could get hurt if you try to walk around in a pair of pumps or high heel boots rather than a sensible pair of athletic shoes.

5) Get Your Kids’ Candy Scanned

More parents are getting their kids’ candy scanned before allowing them to dig in and enjoy their treats. This step goes above and beyond you visually checking your kids’ candy for signs of tampering or foreign objects. When you want to know where you can take your kids’ candy for scanning, you may check out these locations that increasingly are offering this service:

• Local law enforcement offices or police departments
• Medical centers
• Emergency rooms

Many of these locations advertise their services well before Halloween. You can check your local newspaper or radio for more information or simply call these places and ask if they will offer candy scanning this year.

Halloween should be safe and fun holidays for your children. You can make sure the evening of trick-or-treating goes well by remembering these sensible safety strategies.