A Last Minute List of Halloween Safety Tips

This year has flown by--I can't believe it is Halloween already!  If you are sending your kids out to trick or treat this year, here's some safety tips to consider.

• Make sure your kids can see and breath well in their costumes.
• Make sure your kids are easy to see by drivers and other trick or treaters.
• Give your kids the "how to cross the street safely" lecture.  Most kids are so busy paying attention to their friends, their costumes, and their candy that they forget the basics of looking both ways before they cross the street and staying out of the way of cars on the roadway.
• Always make sure your kids go trick or treating with a group and a parent (although each year I get trick or treaters that look like college basketball players on my doorstep so if your kids are that big, they may not need the parent but they should still never go out alone).
• Make sure your kids each carry a flashlight to light their way.
• Make sure your kids only trick or treat in areas you deem safe (I've seen some ghetto areas I wouldn't let my kids walk through during broad daylight...).
• Host a Halloween party at home instead of having the kids trick or treat if necessary.
• Don't let your kids eat the candy they collect until they get home (and until you've had a chance to check out the candy first).
• Some areas are just too unsafe to trick or treat in, if this is the case, check to see if a local mall or business district is hosting a Halloween night complete with candy for the kids to trick or treat for at each store.
• Make sure your kids are aware of basic stranger danger safety tips (ie: don't go into a stranger's home no matter how nice the person seems, don't give out personal information, don't walk around behind the back of a house even if the sign on the door says to, don't go off with someone who asks a kid for help--if the person needs help, they should be asking an adult not a child; etc).
• Make sure each of your kids carry a cell phone with them.
• Set a curfew for your older kids to come back home by if you are not going with them.
• Have a zero tolerance policy for violence either on your kid's part or their friends (no real guns with their costume even if it is just a BB gun, no real knives, no egging or TPing houses, etc).