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4 Tips for Family Safety While On Vacation

These days, vacations are few and far between so it is important when you are able to get away with the family that the vacation is a dream and not a disaster. The most important thing to bring with you when you go on vacation is your common sense. AAA reported that people are more vulnerable when they are in unfamiliar surroundings. Here are four more tips for family safety while on vacation.

Use Traveler’s Checks
Traveler’s checks are great because if they are stolen or lost, it is easy to replace them. This way, you won’t loose money and can continue on your fabulous family vacation.

Use a Fanny Pack
Using a fanny pack that is located in the front of your body will make it a lot harder for thieves to steal your wallet. A person can feel the zipper of a fanny pack opening a lot easier than a pocketbook that is placed behind you. Get a pouch that is large enough to hold your money, credit cards, cell phone, passport, camera, and any other important information. Do not leave these items in your room because they can be stolen. If you do have to leave these items in your room when you leave, make sure they are safely locked up in the in-room safe.

Road Safety
Do not pull over if someone is flashing their car headlights behind you. Wait until you can pull into a well-lit gas station or store parking lot. Emergency vehicles, like police or fire will have flashing red and blue lights. Even then, if they are not in a clearly marked car, find a safe and populated place to pull over.

Avoid Unsafe Areas
When traveling to a destination you’ve never been to, ask the hotel staff if there are any specific areas that should be avoided. Locals will be able to tell you where unsafe areas are, as well as any other special precautions.

Filed Under: Security, Technology Tagged With: , , , ,

Protecting or Spying?

Introduction to the Global Positioning System
Image via Wikipedia

Where is the line between monitoring for your child’s safety and protection and when is it spying? With all the new technology available, this question becomes more important for parents every day.

In Great Britain, a wristwatch has been created that is also a GPS Child Locator device. Using a subscription plan, the device texts an emergency message to the designated cell number when the device is removed and where it was when it was last attached to the child. You can also text any time, to find out the GPS location of your child at that moment. The feedback the company has received is about 50/50 positive and negative.

Cars can now be equipped with monitoring devices, like a black box, or even real time GPS tracking. In addition to basics, like how many miles were driven and where the care went, some programs can even tell the parent the speed the vehicle travel at during the trip.

Computers have filtering and monitoring programs that can tell parents when and where their child has been on the internet, even transcripts of chat messages.

Cell phones have GPS chips and providers offer access and locating using the chips. The drawback is that GPS works best outdoors on clear days, so it can be inaccurate indoors or in poor weather conditions.

In am emergency situation, all of these can be helpful tools to rescue your child from a dangerous situation. The keys to determining if it is too much are why you are monitoring and how you use the technology.

If you text your child’s GPS wristwatch every ½ hour to see where your child is, maybe you have gone too far. If you check your teens cell phone GPS when they miss curfew and are not answering your call or text, you are probably not crossing the line. Most of these devices can help keep you child safe, if you use them discretely and sensibly.

Filed Under: Protection, Security Tagged With: , ,

Public Profiles and Sexting

If your child has an online profile on a social networking site such as Facebook or MySpace, there are few things you, as their parent, can do and teach them to help keep them safe.

According to Parry Aftab, executive director of wiredsafety.org and an expert in cybersecurity, you and your child should remember and follow the 4 P’s. If parents, principals, police, and predators should no see it, don’t post it. What you put on the internet is there forever. Having a social networking profile has many benefits, including keeping in touch with friends and family and when used with caution by parents and children, it is usually a safe and positive part of modern families.

The parent should have a profile and connect to their child’s page, so they can see what their child and friends are posting, to help monitor what is appropriate. While, your teen may object to you being their “friend” on a social networking site, if you set guidelines and rules and your child follows them, there is no need for your presence to cause any problems while they network with their friends.

Sexting (texting sexually explicit comments and photos) is another potentially dangerous activity, but this does not mean you have to forbid the use of texting. If you talk to your teen and require them to get your approval before sending any videos or pictures of themselves using their cell phone, apps, or social networking profile, you significantly reduce the risks. Make sure your child knows the dangers of sexting and ask them to report any text or images that they receive that may be inappropriate to you.

You should discuss internet safety, sexting, and other behaviors that can lead to harmful consequences. Having open communication about the dangers of the internet and cell phones could save you and your child from getting into a potentially dangerous situation.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: , , ,
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