Welcome, Safety Detective!

Your first mission is to learn how to spot dangers before they become accidents.

You'll begin by learning about general home safety and kitchen safety.

🔎 Read the Learn It material carefully before completing your review questions.

Thousands of children are injured every year. Children under 10 are most commonly injured at home, and most children injured at home are under 5 years old.

The main causes of death in the home include:

• Fire
• Falls
• Choking
• Poisoning
• Suffocation
• Drowning

As a babysitter, you must create a safe environment for the children you are watching.

Anticipate and avoid anything that can hurt children.

“Prevention is better!”

1. Keep children away from the kitchen if possible. Watch them closely around the stove, heaters, ovens, hot water taps, matches, and anything that could cause burns.
2. Turn handles inward over the stove. Do not let a handle hang over the edge where a child can grab it.
3. Be careful with hot food and drinks. Keep hot food and drinks where they are inaccessible to children.
4. Watch cords and wires hanging down. For example, a child could pull on a laptop cable and cause the laptop to fall onto themselves.
5. Secure knives when you are finished using them. Make sure they are safely put away.
6. Keep children from getting into cabinets containing cleaning items, vitamins, and medications. Keep these items away from children and keep the children in your sight. If a child is napping, check on them every 30 minutes.

Now that you've completed the Learn It section, answer the questions below.

You've learned how to spot kitchen hazards. Now it's time to think like a Safety Detective!

Imagine you walk into the kitchen while you are babysitting. Look around carefully and think about what could hurt a child.

Name three kitchen hazards you would look for before allowing the children into the kitchen.

Great job, Safety Detective!

You've learned how to spot important safety hazards in and around the kitchen.

You're babysitting and the doorbell rings.

Before you answer the door or the phone, you need to know how to keep yourself and the children safe.

In this mission, you'll learn about door safety and phone safety, including what to do when someone you don't know comes to the door or calls the house.

🔎 Read the Learn It material carefully before completing your review questions.

1. Look through the window first before answering the door.
2. Do not open the door for someone you don't know. If a visitor is expected, get a description from the parents and make sure you have their permission to let the visitor enter.
3. If the police come to the door, call 911. Ask the dispatcher if they are supposed to be there. Do not open the door unless the dispatcher says to. If there is a fire or danger in the neighbourhood and the police or emergency personnel tell you to evacuate, leave the house.
4. If an aggressive stranger is banging on the door, call the police.
5. Close the drapes or blinds at night. When the lights are on and the blinds are open, people outside can see into the house.
6. Use the house alarm if one is available. Ask the parent how to arm the alarm and use it at night as instructed.

1. Have the parents call your cell phone if they need to reach you. If the phone rings and someone asks for the parents, say that they are busy. Take a message, then immediately call the parents with the message and the person's phone number.
2. Never say that the babysitter or the parents are gone.
3. If someone asks, “What number is this?” ask them, “What number did you dial?” Never give them the phone number.
4. Never tell someone what time the parents will be home.
5. If the caller insists on speaking to the parents, take a message and relay it to the parents. Tell the caller that the person they are trying to reach will call them.
6. If you receive an aggressive phone call, hang up and call the police. Give the police the caller's number if it is available, and then call the parents.
   THEN CALL YOUR PARENTS!!!!

Now that you've completed the Learn It section, answer the questions below.

Now test what you've learned about phone safety.

You've learned how to keep yourself and the children safe at the door and on the phone.

Now it's time to put what you've learned into action!

The phone rings while you are babysitting. The person asks to speak to the parents.

🕵️ What would you say and do to keep yourself and the children safe?

You're babysitting and the children want to play outside.

Before you head outdoors, you need to know how to keep the children safe on sidewalks, at the park, and while riding bicycles or tricycles.

You'll learn about outdoor safety, park safety, bicycle and tricycle safety, and staying safe around strangers and animals.

🔎 Read the Learn It material carefully before completing your review questions.

1. You must constantly watch the children in your care when they are outside.

2. If you are walking down the sidewalk, make the child hold your hand. Never let them run ahead of you. They may run into the road without looking.

3. School-age children may not want to hold your hand, but they must walk alongside you.

4. Always stop and have them look both ways when you cross the road. This is a perfect time to talk about safety.

1. Stop and look at the park before you let them play.
2. Check for sharp objects or broken equipment where the child could get hurt.
3. Look for strangers who make you feel uncomfortable. If there is one, GO HOME!
4. Look for stray dogs that could be dangerous. Never let the children pet a stray dog or run up to a dog that you do not know.
5. Bring your cell phone in case of emergencies.
6. Make sure the children's clothes are not loose. Clothing could get caught in playground equipment. Always tuck scarves into their coats. Watch out for mitten strings and hoodie drawstrings.
7. Make sure the children play on equipment that is for their age group. Don't let a toddler climb on the big slides. Be sure you are ready to catch them if they are climbing or sliding.

Every year, about 300,000 kids go to the emergency department because of bike injuries, and at least 10,000 kids have injuries that require a few days in the hospital. Some of these injuries are so serious that children die, usually from head injuries.

HELMETS ARE A MUST!!!! This includes you too!

You need to check with the parents about where you're allowed to ride your bike with the children. You need to know how far you're allowed to go and whether you should ride on the sidewalk or in the street.

Kids younger than 10 years should ride on the sidewalk and avoid the street. Watch the children closely and do not let them ride out of your sight.

Here are some rules that apply to bicycles on the road:

1. Make sure the child doesn't have clothing on that can get caught in the chain.
2. Ride in single file.
3. Use bike lanes if possible.
4. Ride close to the curb if you ride on the road.
5. Ride in the same direction as the cars.

The children that you have been hired to watch deserve to be safe and sound. You need to be constantly alert when you are outside of the house.

Strangers can be nice, but they can also be mean. You don't know them or their intentions.

Never let the children go with a stranger for any reason! It is best to never put yourself in that position in the first place. Always stay where there are a lot of people if you are outside of the home.

If a stranger comes near and you feel unsafe, immediately go home.

Now that you've completed the Learn It section, answer the questions below.

Now think about what you have learned about staying safe around strangers and animals when you are outside.

You've learned how to keep children safe outdoors, at the park, and while riding bikes.

Now it's time to put your safety detective skills to work!

Great job, Safety Detective!

You've learned how to help keep children safe outdoors, at the park, while riding bicycles or tricycles, and around strangers and animals.

You're babysitting in a rural area.

Before you let the children explore outside, you need to know about the dangers that can be found around a rural home or farm.

You'll learn about farm equipment, animals, grain bins, hazardous chemicals, water hazards, and other rural safety concerns.

🔎 Read the Learn It material carefully before completing your review questions.

If the family lives in a rural area, they may not have busy streets to worry about, but they may have many pieces of dangerous equipment around or near the house.

Walk the entire area with the parents or ask them to make a safe area map for you. Enforce ALL off-limits areas!

1. Do not let children on or near farm equipment.
2. Stay away from grain bins or any equipment that may hold grain. It is a real suffocation hazard!
3. Don't go near farm animals. Keep the fence between you and the animals.
4. Stay away from any hazardous chemicals, such as pesticides.
5. It is best to not let children be near outbuildings. Keep them near the house while you babysit.
6. Always watch the children!

Avoid dugouts, sloughs, silage pits, and manure pits.

Remember, help is not as close to you as it is when you are in town. Make sure to have exact directions to tell 911 operators where you are.

Keep numbers with you and a cell phone at all times when you are outside.

Know all the emergency measures you may have to take, such as how to exit the house, what to do if there is a fire, or any other procedures that would be necessary for the rural setting.

Now that you've completed the Learn It section, answer the questions below.

Now it's time to use what you've learned about rural safety.

Look carefully at the farm scene and think like a Safety Detective. What could be dangerous for the children?

Great job!

You've learned how to recognize important hazards around a rural home and how to help keep children safe.