My Tips for Keeping the Kids Safe Outdoors

I’m starting to make plans the summer, trying to be as organised as one can be with 2 small children. Every year we have certain local outdoor events that we like to go to when the weather is fair, so usually plan our schedules around these. In particularly we enjoy festivals, but a bad experience last year where it all got too busy has left me feeling overcautious. I almost talked myself out of going to one of our favourite events this year, but instead I decided that I would look at ways to make me feel a little less anxious and for the kids to not know any different. After chatting with some mummy friends I thought a post on some keeping safe tips was in order.

  1. Bright colours are fun, and safe too

Going to busy places and spaces, especially where there are a lot of other children sometimes makes me a little nervous that I wouldn’t be able to spot mine easily when they’re running around, playing games and hiding. I’ve always tried to dress my kids in bright and fun clothes anyway, but I do feel grateful on days when they’re wearing something different to the other children as they are certainly much easier to keep tabs on. Baby 1 has a lovely bright yellow bumble bee backpack school bag that makes it very easy for me to spot him in the crowd at nursery when all the little ones are piling through the door at hometime.

2. You’d put a tag on your pet so why not your kids?

Now I’m not suggesting to treat your children like animals, (even though mine behave like them every so often!)  Now this idea came from a dear friend of mine who has a very sociable 4 year old daughter. I was amazed at her, and her Mum’s bravery when we were on the beach one day. The little girl was happy to wander up to any families that had children too, crouch down and start a conversation with them. I asked my friend how she managed to let her do this without worrying. Of course a lot of it boils down to trust, but she also told me that she writes her mobile number on her daughter’s hand in marker pen when they go out, just in case.

I did think this was a clever idea but I’m not too keen on drawing on my little ones with marker pen so I thought about alternatives. My grandmother has a medical alert bracelet because of the medication she takes. This has her phone number on it too, and was specially engraved for her. Apparently there are children’s products available like this so I will be ordering 2 with call my mum and our phone number on. I feel quite smug about this tip.

3. Suncream, suncream, suncream

I can’t stress this one enough. No matter how hot/cold it might seem, if children are running around outdoors and have bare arms or legs, they should be wearing sun block with a protection factor of 50. There’s no excuse, and there are plenty of fun creams available of all different colours in funky packaging these days.

Hopefully these little tips will help a mum somewhere to worry just a tiny bit less when they are out with the kids, but it’s okay to worry a little, we’re mums and that’s our job.