Safety is a priority and must be top of mind for everyone, particularly teenagers and young adults who are especially vulnerable to crime. It is a sad reality that South Africa has an alarmingly high rate of crime and violence, and it is too often that it is our young people who are targeted.
Youth Month should therefore serve as a rallying call for parents and caregivers to re-commit themselves to doing more about the safety of our youth.
“As adults, we have the responsibility to teach young people how to be safe and secure. If we can instil in them a sense of how to avoid risks and how to look after themselves, we can make a real positive impact in their lives. A good place to start is by equipping young South Africans with the tools they need to be safe,” says Charnel Hattingh, Group Head of Communications and Marketing at Fidelity Services Group.
She explains that a lot can be done regarding safety close to places of learning and she offers some advice for Youth Month.
“Areas around schools can be ripe pickings for opportunistic criminals. Children walking with their cell phones visible are particularly vulnerable, and incidents continue where learners are either held up with a weapon or conned into handing their phones over to a stranger ‘in need of help’.”
Other incidents common around schools are hijackings of parents waiting to collect children, armed robberies, and vehicle thefts.
“Criminals rely on the fact that parents are often preoccupied when dropping off or collecting children from school. Everyone is absorbed in their own worlds, seldom noticing what is going on around them. This is the downside of routine and the humdrum of daily life.”
If your children are still at school, teach them to never leave the school’s premises with anyone they don’t know.
Children waiting to be fetched after school should also remember to stay within the school’s premises. If they usually walk home, parents should advise their children to walk in a group. They should also follow familiar routes if they walk home and try to walk in large groups.
Hattingh says another important part of the conversation that one should have with children (no matter what their age) deals with what they should do when things go wrong, and how to avoid potentially dangerous situations.
“Your children need to know that there are good and honest adults who want to help and are ready to come to their aid. Do your kids know how to contact the SAPS or Law Enforcement? Have you shown them how to find a security officer in a busy public space in case they get separated from you? Practice these scenarios with them so you can see exactly how prepared your children are for whatever happens to them. We have an important responsibility to leave behind a better world when we are gone. This starts by equipping kids today with the tools they need for a safer tomorrow,” says Hattingh.
Encourage free and open communication amongst your teenagers so they feel empowered to talk out on issues and report abuse.
You can learn more from other available lists, such as tips that have been provided by the SAPS and by the international NPO Safe Kids. Speak to your kids today about a safer tomorrow.
