National Missing Children’s Day – 30 Minutes to Safer Kids (May 25, 2013)
According to The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), an estimated 800,000 children are reported missing each year – that’s more than 2,000 children each day. Hard to believe, isn’t it? For every minute a child is missing, they are potentially a mile further away from safety. With these statistics in mind, National Missing Children’s Day on Saturday, May 25th, gives us a great opportunity to take certain steps that can make all the difference in keeping our kids safe.
Be Aware – Become a member of AlertID’s free program to receive crime, sex offender, and other important alerts as well as the ability to communicate with neighbors about suspicious events in the neighborhood. Knowledge is power and having information about your surroundings will help you make adjustments in your life to better help you protect your family.
Be Proactive: Parents who have been separated from their children for any length of time understand the terror of not knowing where their children are. As parents, most of us will admit that we think losing our children won’t happen to us, but unfortunately that’s likely the same assumption that parents of missing children had taken, and wish they hadn’t.
- Take a Look at Safety Tips: They just might include things that you haven’t thought of that can make a big difference. The National Crime Prevention Council (Home of McGruff the Crime Dog®) and AlertID have come together to bring you these important safety tips about keeping your kids safe.
- Talk to Your Kids: The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children encourages us all to take just 25 minutes to talk to our kids (www.Take25.org). It only takes a few minutes to make a lifetime of difference. The tips are broken down according to age and are great Conversation Starters.
- Download the free AlertID mobile app: Not only can you be informed of sex offenders and crimes on-the-go with the mobile app, you can also keep the most up-to-date picture and other information about your child on My Family Wallet™. Information stored on My Family Wallet can quickly be sent to authorities in an emergency when every minute counts.
If we all “Take 25” and follow these steps, we can rest a little easier and know that we’ve covered our bases when it comes to keeping our kids safe – it could just make all the difference in the world to your family.
Written by AlertID Founder, Keli Wilson