How Safe is Your Family?

As much as you try and protect your loved ones, some things may be out of your control.

With that in mind, how safe is your family?

From keeping them safe out in public to having a safe home life, you want to protect them as much as possible.

Though you should never obsess on safety, review the practices you’ve deployed. If it seems you are missing out on a few things, work to install them sooner than later. In doing so, you and your loved ones will sleep better at night.

Making Sure You Have Checked Off All Your Safety Needs

To keep your loved ones as safe as you can, check the following:

1.Home security

Given how much time you spend in your home, how safe is it?

Having a home security system in place is always a good starting point.

Although there are a myriad of systems out there to choose from, your best bet is to do your homework. You can go online to educate yourself about which systems get the highest marks. Also consider getting a demonstration from different suppliers. Once you’ve settled on the right system, be sure to have it working at all times.

Another home security practice is having someone check your home while away.

Leave an extra vehicle in the printed concrete driveway, a light on at night with a timer, and have the mail and newspapers collected.

2.Knowing Those Around You

Although you can’t interview and track all your neighbors, you can do a little investigating.

For instance, with the name of a neighbor, you can do a free criminal records check on that individual.

Among the areas of interest would be if that person has ever been in jail for any serious crimes. If they have, it gives you more pauses to interact with them.

3.Staying Safe Online

Another important area of safety is your family’s computer activities.

Given there are millions of people online, the possibility of one trying to do you harm is possible.

Among the areas of most importance with your online actions:

· Personal details – Never give out info like where you live, phone number, and your work location. If someone is staking out your home, they will look for patterns to form. If they discover them, they can attack when you’re not home or even when you are.

· Keeping your children safe – If you allow children time on the Internet, make sure they are safe. It is up to you to determine at what age you feel it appropriate for them to be online unsupervised. Install monitoring software to track what sites they are visiting. As teens get older, they almost naturally want to date. In knowing who your teen is dating, you can keep them relatively safe. Without invading their privacy, talk to them about any other teens they may meet online and start hanging out with.

· Avoiding malware – Be careful online with what you or your children download. Some criminals will try and get you to download malware. If this occurs, your computer is then infected and in the hands of a criminal. With that access, they can get into your personal details, including finances.

Keeping your family safe is a 24/7 job, but it is doable with commonsense and the right resources at your disposal.