Keep your child safe

Our children are our greatest blessings. As parents, we need to protect them in every way possible. There are the recommendations we commonly hear about to protect our children, such as: teaching your child about stranger danger, taking swimming lessons, wearing helmets while biking and skateboarding, monitoring their Internet use, and so on. But I wanted to share some things that are not discussed as often.

I have used Family Watchdog for years. It is a free service that helps you locate registered sex offenders that live near you. Of course I realize this is not foolproof and we must still carefully watch our children, but it is a wonderful tool. I even use their site to look up their grandparents' or friends' neighborhoods where my kids play outside often. If my children attended school, I would look up that area, too.

I have recently learned about www.sexualoffenders.com,which not only allows you to look up sexual predators in your area but also allows you to sign up for email updates if a sexual predator moves into your neighborhood.

This is an eye-opening video that every parent who uses a Smartphone to take pictures needs to see. It will blow you away to see how sharing those photos on Facebook and other venues can be very dangerous.

I hope these tips are helpful in keeping your children extra safe.