Keeping Her Safe

It doesn’t matter how hard we try or what we do as parents there will always be something. There will always be something that can do harm to our precious little ones whether that be the complete lack of fear they have when they are so young, a random tree falling in the woods or a combination of the two. It is so important for our young ones to feel free to explore and learn about the world and if I am honest then I must also say that whilst it can be horrendously scary for me, the parent, I adore Alyssa’s complete lack of fear. I love that she is so courageous and daring and believes that she can do anything and in some respects I do sincerely hope that lasts (well most of it anyway!!) However, to ensure she lives long enough for me to watch her blossom into an even more gorgeous, confident, brave and intelligent woman she needs to know about safety and how to take care of herself and for some things you are never too young to learn. I don’t want to plant the seed of fear in her and watch it take away that playful spark but I want her to be here and continue to sparkle…

Alyssa has been walking for quite a while now and is much more confident… she has even started to run and this does mean that I have to try and keep up with her too! I am reluctant to put reins on her (though probably will at some point) just because I do not want her to feel restricted though for safety reasons this will probably change quite soon.

Now, I know it is Winter but I think it has actually been a gorgeous one with lots of clear blue skies with bright sunshine and so we have been going out for lots of walks – helping to blow away the cobwebs and allowing my little daredevil to burn off some energy and explore the world around her. I am very lucky that she will actually hold my hand until we get from the car park well into the fields where I can let go and she can run free, falling in muddy puddles and kicking up leaves. However, the hand holding is so important and at first she objected to it and couldn’t understand but now she seems to have grasped it’s importance and doesn’t fight against it until we reach a certain point in the park where she knows she is allowed to run!

She is starting to object to her pushchair more and more and whilst there are times when I do have to insist that she stays in it (even if it is just for my own sanity) I do let her walk as much as possible when she wants to – my independent little madam. This means, that I need to start teaching her about safety already – particularly when it comes to cars and the road. Now, I don’t know about you, but I learnt my road safety from a combination of my mum and the road safety hedgehogs – total legends who I have in fact started to see again on the television recently and who I will no doubt recruit to help me teach Alyssa a few things too!

However, there is also a new Road Safety Game that the Accident Advice Helpline has created in order to helps kids learn the rules of crossing roads, walking when there is no pavement and even riding your bike. There are multiple choice questions that kids can answer and they get short little explanations whether they are right or wrong and at the end their is a printable certificate for them to show that they’ve learnt all about road safety. I think this is a great mini game that is moving with the times into the technological era but still making sure those important safety facts are getting taught to our children – when she is a little older I will definitely be getting Alyssa to play and have already told Rowan that I have a new game for him to try when he pops in next!

There is enough scary out there in the world without cars and roads being one of them for my precious little one, so I will be doing all I can to teach her about road safety. Have you done this? Have you started teaching your little ones? What methods are you using?

This is a collaborative post – all thoughts and opinions are my own