How To Be Safe When Staying Home Alone Girls With Pictures

Keep the key with you. Don’t leave it outside your house (e. g. under the doormat) - someone could find it and break into the house. Avoid clipping the key to a keychain outside your backpack or on a piece of jewelry - this makes it easy for someone to grab it, or for you to lose it. Some houses have a security system built in, in addition to your key. Typically, these go off whenever a window or door is opened. If your house has one of these systems, make sure you know the code to disarm it. [1] X Research source

As a general rule, you’ll want to have the phone number of your parents (both cell and work numbers), trusted neighbors, and outside family in the area (e. g. grandparents, aunts and uncles). For the number of parents you have, you should have an extra contact - for example, if you have your mom, your dad, and your stepmom, you should have at least three other contacts that aren’t those parents.

Keep your money in quarters. Bills may seem more convenient, but you often can’t use bills for things like a payphone, and you don’t want to overpay a bus fare. Don’t keep too much money on you. Twenty dollars should be fine at home, but outside of the home, you may not want to carry more than five. Ask your parents how much money you should have with you.

If a younger sibling gets out of school or an activity earlier than you do, and there isn’t somewhere they can wait for you, see if you can arrange for a trusted adult to pick them up. Sometimes, siblings may want to spend time with friends after school. Work with your siblings and parents to establish a list of friends that you and your siblings can visit, and who you can’t.

Set up a backup schedule if you don’t feel comfortable with leaving the home. If you have any activities on your schedule that involve leaving the house, but you don’t feel safe to leave for whatever reason, use the backup schedule and let a parent know. Be sure to also notify anyone else that may be involved (e. g. teachers, coaches, neighbors) so that they don’t wonder where you are.

What needs to be done immediately after getting home and locking the door? For example, do you need to do certain chores? Are you allowed to make phone calls on the landline or your cell phone? If either phone rings and you don’t know the number, do you pick up? If the doorbell rings, do you answer it to everyone, or only if it’s certain people? Alternatively, do you just not answer the door at all?[4] X Research source Are you allowed to leave the house after arriving home? If so, what’s the furthest place you’re allowed to go? What websites are you allowed to use while your parents aren’t home? What websites can younger siblings use? How much time on electronics (TV, computer, cell phone, etc. ) are you and your siblings allowed to have? If you have to share electronics, what’s the time limit for using it before the other sibling gets to use it? What things in the house are off-limits? For example, your parents might be okay with you using the microwave, but not the stove. What’s the latest you should start your homework?

First-aid supplies Emergency supplies - flashlight, battery-powered radio, batteries, money, and so forth Places or things that are off-limits (e. g. garage, electrical appliances) A route to escape the house in case of danger Where to go in case of a natural disaster

Your home Homes of trusted neighbors Locations of places you may need to access (e. g. a field or park) Safe roads (roads you can use to walk somewhere) Unsafe roads (roads that you should never use) Public places that are safe for you to go to Routes taken if you need to walk a significant distance to your house

Where do you go if the house is unsafe when you arrive? (For example, the house smells of gas, or the window is shattered. ) Who is the “emergency contact” for school? If there’s an emergency evacuation at school, and your parents can’t get off work to pick you up, make sure that there’s a designated adult you know who can pick you up. What are the procedures in case of natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tornadoes, or severe storms? What do you do in case of minor situations that don’t require leaving the home, such as a power outage? What do you do if you or a sibling gets lost, or a sibling doesn’t come home at an agreed time? (Be sure to allow time for slack - a sibling coming home five minutes late isn’t a big deal unless it’s dark. ) If your mom or dad is late getting home, what’s the maximum longest time that can be waited before contacting you? (For example, if your dad is fifteen minutes late, does he contact you and let you know?) If you aren’t contacted, who do you call? Is there an “emergency signal” that should mean “pick up the phone”? For example, calling a parent only one time would signify that it’s not an emergency, but calling twice in a row means that there’s an emergency.

Keep your phone charged - if something comes up and your phone is dead, you may not be able to contact your parents or emergency services if you’re alone. Consider bringing a spare phone charger to school with you, just in case. Avoid playing with your phone or listening to music out in public. Playing on your phone or listening to music distracts you from what’s going on, meaning you could step into the street by mistake or become a target for bad people who want to hurt you. And even in the best case scenario, you may just end up missing the bus because you didn’t notice it was there!

If your sibling is disabled, whether physically or developmentally, don’t leave them behind, regardless of their age. Wait for them, or go home and then pick them up when they’re done with their activity. Someone in a wheelchair or crutches may have trouble defending themselves or taking certain routes home, and an autistic sibling or a sibling with Down Syndrome might not understand that strangers may want to hurt them. If you have to stay late at school - for example, you participate in a club or you have detention - make other arrangements for younger siblings, so that they’re not waiting alone or going home by themselves.

Immediately after you get home, lock the door you came in through. You don’t want to get so caught up in getting home that you leave the door unlocked. [8] X Research source

Keep all doors and windows that lead outside locked. If you want to open a window, stay in the same room as the open window, and close the window when you leave the room. Don’t leave young siblings alone in the home. If your parents said it’s okay to hang out in the neighborhood with a friend, but your little sibling won’t go with you, stay with your sibling. Younger children may get hurt or cause a problem out of curiosity when they don’t mean to (e. g. turning on the stove, and then leaving it on).

Do your homework. You don’t have to finish it or not need any help at all, but do what you can. Consider helping any younger siblings you may have out with their homework once you’ve finished, too. Clean up after yourself. If you’re playing a game, clean up the game pieces and put them back where you found them. If you eat a snack, clean up any spills you might have made, throw any garbage in the trash, and put dishes in the sink or the dishwasher. Don’t leave a mess for your parents to clean up. Do your best to keep young siblings out of trouble. While you can’t (and shouldn’t) helicopter over your little sibling’s every move, do your best to know where they are in the house. Keep them away from household hazards, too; you don’t want a younger sibling to turn the stove on, or knock down something dangerous.

If you can’t focus without music or ambient noise, play your music quietly on a speaker, rather than headphones. Make sure you can still hear easily over it, and close your door if it irritates any siblings.

You may want to take a first-aid class or babysitting course, especially if you have younger siblings. These classes teach how to treat injuries, and sometimes CPR (for kids and babies) and the Heimlich maneuver - which can also be done on yourself in an emergency. Ask your parents if they can find one of these classes for you. If you (or any siblings you may have) are very badly injured - for example, you have a fever higher than 104 °F (40 °C), or your sibling hit their head and can’t walk - call emergency services, and then call your parents to let them know what happened. Don’t text them - your parents may not notice a text, and they’ll want to make sure you’re okay!

Make sure you know basic skills for bad situations: know how to call emergency services,[13] X Research source how to text 911 if it’s unsafe to call, how to find and use a payphone in case you can’t use a cell phone, how to place a collect call if you’re out of money, and how to get away from strangers. Know what to do if someone breaks into your home, how to stop someone from taking you to somewhere you don’t know, and what to do if someone you don’t know follows you home. And remember: if somebody ever touches you in a way that makes you uncomfortable, it’s okay to yell at them to get off of you![14] X Expert Source Saul Jaeger, MSPolice Captain, Mountain View Police Department Expert Interview. 21 February 2020. You may want to learn self-defense techniques in case you need to fight back (but never attack someone unless they try and touch you). Consider a self-defense class such as karate or taekwondo. If you have any siblings, make sure they know these skills, too. While they can’t learn self-defense overnight, make sure to go over emergency procedures with them and that they understand to avoid strangers they don’t know. If you’re ever with siblings and a bad stranger tries to approach you, steer them away - you don’t want your siblings ending up getting hurt, either.