Halloween can be a fun and exciting time for kids. These safety tips will help keep everyone safe and happy this Halloween.
For parents:
· Attach reflective tape or other material to your child’s costume to ensure they are more visible
· Young children should be accompanied by adults or travel together in groups while trick or treating
· Avoid using masks. Masks make it hard for children to see what is around them
· Costumes should fit properly to prevent trips and falls
· Dress your child for the weather
· Put your child’s name, address and phone number on their costume
· Carry a flashlight and ensure that your children remain in your sight
If your child is going out without an adult:
· Make sure your child is in a group of at least 3 people
· Give them a flashlight
· Give them a cell phone if you have one
· Discuss what route they will be going. Ask them to call you if they plan to go on a different route
· Give your child a curfew
For children:
· Trick or treating should occur in the early evening hours
· Always let your parents know where you will be going and stick to the plan!
· Never travel in areas that are dark and vacant
· Never talk to strangers
· Never go anywhere with strangers or someone you do not know very well
· Never enter a stranger’s home. Always stand at the door. Stay away from homes that are in total darkness
· Take Halloween treats home for inspection by your parents before eating them
· Don’t crisscross back and forth across the street. Work your way up one side of the street and then start on the other. Walk on the sidewalks and stay off roads and lawns
For Motorists:
· Be especially careful on the roads between 4pm and 8pm as this is when the majority of children are out trick-or-treating. Slow down when you are driving through residential neighbourhoods.
· Avoid distractions. It only takes a second for a child to dart out in front of your vehicle, so drive will your cell phone turned off or set to do-not-disturb.
· Use caution around stopped vehicles as these may be dropping off trick-or-treaters. If you must pass a stopped vehicle, do so slowly and watch out for young pedestrians.
· Yield to pedestrians. Remember that on Halloween night, young children may be so excited that they forget some basic safety rules when crossing the street – or some may have never been properly taught.
· Use your signals. Communicate with other drivers by always using your signals. And if you are dropping off or picking up your own little goblins, be sure to use your four way lights. Instruct children to get in and out of your car on the side of the vehicle that is closest to the sidewalk.