The National Center for Missing and Exploited children put together this child safety list. It contains very valuable information on what to do to keep our kids safe, worth sharing with everyone.

Once kids are able to talk, you can begin teaching them some basic safety essentials.

At Home

1. Teach your children their full names, address, and home telephone number. Make sure they know your full name.
2. Make sure your children know how to reach you at work or on your cell phone.
3. Teach your children how and when to use 911 and make sure your children have a trusted adult to call if they’re scared or have an emergency.
4. Instruct children to keep the door locked and not to open the door to talk to anyone when they are home alone. Set rules with your children about having visitors over when you’re not home and how to answer the telephone.
5. Choose babysitters with care. Obtain references from family, friends, and neighbors. Once you have chosen the caregiver, drop in unexpectedly to see how your children are doing. Ask children how the experience with the caregiver was and listen carefully to their responses.

On the Net

1. Learn about the Internet. The more you know about how the Web works, the better prepared you are to teach your children about potential risks. Visit www.NetSmartz.org for more information about Internet safety.
2. Place the family computer in a common area, rather than a child’s bedroom. Also, monitor their time spent online and the websites they’ve visited and establish rules for Internet use.
3. Know what other access your child may have to the Internet at school, libraries, or friends’ homes.
4. Use privacy settings on social networking sites to limit contact with unknown users and make sure screen names don’t reveal too much about your children.
5. Encourage your children to tell you if anything they encounter online makes them feel sad, scared, or confused.
6. Caution children not to post revealing information or inappropriate photos of themselves or their friends online.

At School

1. Walk the route to and from school with your children, pointing out landmarks and safe places to go if they’re being followed or need help. If your children ride a bus, visit the bus stop with them to make sure they know which bus to take.
2. Remind kids to take a friend whenever they walk or bike to school. Remind them to stay with a group if they’re waiting at the bus stop.
3. Caution children never to accept a ride from anyone unless you have told them it is OK to do so in each instance.

Out and About

1. Take your children on a walking tour of the neighborhood and tell them whose homes they may visit without you.
2. Remind your children it’s OK to say NO to anything that makes them feel scared, uncomfortable, or confused and teach your children to tell you if anything or anyone makes them feel this way.
3. Teach your children to ask permission before leaving home.
4. Remind your children not to walk or play alone outside.
5. Teach your children to never approach a vehicle, occupied or not, unless they know the owner and are accompanied by a parent, guardian, or other trusted adult.
6. Practice “what if” situations and ask your children how they would respond. “What if you fell off your bike and you needed help? Who would you ask?”
7. Teach your children to check in with you if there is a change of plans.
8. During family outings, establish a central, easy-to-locate spot to meet for check-ins or should you get separated.
9. Teach your children how to locate help at theme parks, sports stadiums, shopping malls, and other public places. Also, identify those people who they can ask for help, such as uniformed law enforcement, security guards and store clerks with nametags.
10. Help your children learn to recognize and avoid potential risks, so that they can deal with them if they happen.
11. Teach your children that if anyone tries to grab them, they should make a scene and make every effort to get away by kicking, screaming, and resisting.

Okay, when you think you’ve heard it all. A bill to approve a “Gay Day” celebration in Public Schools? What? are the gay people heroes now? I believe in equal treatment for all, but this is going well beyond equal treatment. This is forcing the world to pay recognition to a group of people that have done nothing remarkable to earn it. And force it upon our children in the Public schools? The first thing that comes to mind is who in the world is proposing this kind of nonsense? And don’t they have anything better to do in the Senate than to come up with these ridiculous ideas? Well, I did a little research as follows:

Lead Author of AB 2567 : Assemblymember Mark Leno. Bio:

Elected to the Assembly in 2002, Assemblyman Mark Leno represents the 13th District, which encompasses the eastern portion of San Francisco. He is one of the first openly gay men ever elected to the Assembly.

He currently chairs the Assembly Appropriations Committee, which oversees all bills with a fiscal impact on the state. He also serves on the Election & Redistricting and Labor Committees, as well as the Public Safety Committee, which he chaired through 2006. Prior to his election to the Assembly, Leno served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from April 1998 to November 2002.

In 2007, Leno is continuing his pioneering battle for equal rights for LGBT couples and their families by introducing AB 43, the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act. This historic civil rights legislation would allow same sex couples to marry in California. In 2005, Leno’s nearly identical AB 849 was the first marriage equality bill in United States history to be approved by both houses of a state legislature.

Sponsor: Equality California (EQCA)

Co-Authors: Senators Kehoe, Kuehl and Migden; Assemblymember Laird and Speaker Núñez

This legislation only proves one thing; that the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) movement is not seeking equal treatment as they claim. They are seeking superior treatment, a special kind of treatment. There is no “Straight Day” celebration in the schools. Why there should be a “Gay Day” celebration?

Do you think our children should be celebrating a “Gay Day” at school? And how would you like to have to explain this “Gay Day” celebration to a Kindergartener? Well, if you live in the state of California and Governor Schwarzenegger does not veto this legislation, you just might have to. And look out everyone, legislations often voted for in California tend to spread out throughout the nation.

CALL TO ACTION: You can let Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger know how you feel about this issue:
Contact the Governor

Governor’s Office

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-445-2841
Fax: 916-445-4633

To send an Electronic Mail please visit:
http://www.govmail.ca.gov

I was reading that a couple of months ago the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the child-rape death penalty in Louisiana. The case that overturned the law was that of Patrick Kennedy. The 43-year-old was sentenced to death for the rape of his 8-year-old stepdaughter. He is one of two people in the U.S., both in Louisiana, condemned to death for a rape not accompanied by a killing.

The Louisiana Foundation Against Sexual Assault, a victim-advocacy group, shared the concern voiced by the court that the death penalty in such cases could endanger rather than protect children. They uphold that “making the punishment for child rape and murder equivalent, a state that punishes child rape by death may remove a strong incentive for the rapist not to kill the victim.”

The court said Louisiana law allowing the death penalty to be imposed in such cases violates the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment, and that “The death penalty is not a proportional punishment for the rape of a child.”

Forty-five states ban the death penalty for any kind of rape, and the other five states allow it for child rapists. Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas allow executions in such cases if the defendant had previously been convicted of raping a child.

I am 100% pro-life, and an opponent of the death penalty, but I always thought that having enforced the death penalty for child rape would discourage individuals from committing this type of crimes. That knowing the consequence of their actions would be death row would scare them away from even trying to commit these hideous crimes against children. So hearing the court’s opinion that imposing the death penalty on a child rapist will actually encourage them to kill the victim was something I never pondered.

Maybe the U.S. Supreme Court is right or maybe they are not. Which is best to help keep our children safe from sexual predators? To allow the death penalty for child rapists or not to allow it? and what punishment is proportional to the rape of a child? Just let the parents of the victim answer that one.

God forbids, this happens to your family, what kind of punishment would you like be enforced on the perpetrator?

Want to know how many registered sex offenders live near you? In your neighborhood, Children schools, Parks, and within a 20 to 30 miles ratios? On this Website, go to Helpful Resources on the far right, and click on SEXUAL PREDATOR SEARCH.

I came across the following article on a new technology being developed aimed to aid parents remember a child left in a car, although written in 2004, I find this report very interesting and relevant today since the hyperthermia-deaths-of-children-in-hot-vehicles continue to happen.

However, we are already nearing the end of 2008, four years after this report was written, and I have not heard of anything of this nature already in place. Does anyone know anything about this new technology out there? If you do, would you be so kind to share with us by placing a comment on this post?

Would you move thousands and thousands of miles away from friends and relatives to give your family a piece of mind and a better future? To a place where schools are the best in the nation, where crime rates and cost of living are low, and children have a safer environment to grow up in?

My family and I made such a move about a year ago. We left the busy streets of the city, for the quite and narrow streets of the suburbs in another state, a state that we had never been to before and had no friends or relatives in. A bit risky, you might think, but very well worth it. We have no regrets. Life is so much better where we are now.

If you are considering or have ever considered doing such a thing, here is a helpful list published by Business Week that can make your search for such a place much easier. To access the complete story click on this link: http://images.businessweek.com/ss/07/11/1116_bestplaces_kids/index_01.htm

No. 50 - Patterson, Ga.
Nearest city: Savannah (92 miles)
Population: 627
Median household income: $26,591

No. 49 - Galesburg, Mich.
Nearest city: Grand Rapids (67 miles)
Population: 1,988
Median household income: $34,663

No. 48 - Chagrin Falls, Ohio
Nearest city: Cleveland (24 miles)
Population: 4,024
Median household income: $62,917

No. 47 - South Cleveland, Tenn.
Nearest city: Chattanooga (30 miles)
Population: 6,216
Median household income: $35,995

No. 46 - St. Johnsville, N.Y.
Nearest city: Rochester (167 miles)
Population: 1,685
Median household income: $28,043

No. 45 - Mariemont, Ohio
Nearest city: Cincinnati (7 miles)
Population: 3,408
Median household income: $57,614

No. 44 - Davenport, Neb.
Nearest city: Lincoln (99 miles)
Population: 339
Median household income: $26,964

No. 43 - Oakland, N.J.
Nearest city: Newark (36 miles)
Population: 12,466
Median household income: $86,629

No. 42 - Haslett, Mich.
Nearest city: Lansing (9 miles)
Population: 11,283
Median household income: $50,679

No. 41 - Arlington, Neb.
Nearest city: Omaha (50 miles)
Population: 1,197
Median household income: $45,365

No. 40 - Madeira, Ohio
Nearest city: Cincinnati (7 miles)
Population: 8,923Median household income: $59,626

No. 39 - Loomis, Neb.
Nearest city: Lincoln (167 miles)
Population: 397
Median household income: $36,719

No. 38 - Oakland, Neb.
Nearest city: Omaha (67 miles)
Population: 1,367
Median household income: $32,663

No. 37 - Diller, Neb.
Nearest city: Lincoln (62 miles)
Population: 287
Median household income: $37,813

No. 36 - Newcastle, Neb.
Nearest city: Omaha (125 miles)
Population: 299
Median household income: $29,000

No. 35 - Franklin, Ga.
Nearest city: Atlanta (65 miles)
Population: 902
Median household income: $19,125

No. 34 - Clarence Center, N.Y.
Nearest city: Buffalo (20 miles)
Population: 1,747
Median household income: $66,311

No. 33 - Clarendon Hills, Ill.
Nearest city: Chicago (22 miles)
Population: 7,610
Median household income: $84,795

No. 32 - Petersburg, Neb.
Nearest city: Lincoln (131 miles)
Population: 374
Median household income: $29,688

No. 31 - Friendship, N.Y.
Nearest city: Buffalo (101 miles)
Population: 1,176
Median household income: $25,524

No. 30 - Buffalo Grove, Ill.
Nearest city: Chicago (32 miles)
Population: 42,909
Median household income: $80,525

No. 29 - Nolanville, Tex.
Nearest city: Austin (68 miles)
Population: 2,150
Median household income: $36,140

No. 28 - Lyndhurst, Ohio
Nearest city: Cleveland (11 miles)
Population: 15,279
Median household income: $52,272

No. 27 - Fairmount, N.Y.
Nearest city: Syracuse (5
miles)
Population: 10,795
Median household income: $48,329

No. 26 - Dundee, Ore.
Nearest city: Portland (26 miles)
Population: 2,598
Median household income: $50,284

No. 25 - Barrington, Ill.
Nearest city: Chicago (38 miles)
Population: 10,168
Median household income: $83,085

No. 24 - Sherman, N.Y.
Nearest city: Buffalo (88 miles)
Population: 714
Median household income: $30,583

No. 23 - Douglas, Mich.
Nearest city: Grand Rapids (43 miles)
Population: 1,214
Median household income: $41,250

No. 22 - Bartlett, Neb.
Nearest city: Lincoln (169 miles)
Population: 128
Median household income: $33,250

No. 21 - Batavia, Ill.
Nearest city: Chicago (44 miles)
Population: 23,866
Median household income: $68,656

No. 20 - Ackerman, Miss.
Nearest city: Birmingham, Ala. (160 miles)
Population:1,696
Median household income: $21,287

No. 19 - Fort Thomas, Ky.
Nearest city: Cincinnati (6 miles)
Population: 16,495
Median household income: $49,575

No. 18 - Jamestown, Ky.
Nearest city: Lexington (88 miles)
Population: 1,624Median household income: $18,587
No. 17 - Lawrence, Neb.
Nearest city: Lincoln (136 miles)
Population: 312
Median household income: $25,089

No. 16 - Green, Ohio
Nearest city: Akron (11 miles)
Population: 22,817
Median household income: $54,133

No. 15 - East Brainerd, Tenn.
Nearest city: Chattanooga (13 miles)
Population: 14,132
Median household income: $66,151

No. 14 - Ridgetop, Tenn.
Nearest city: Nashville (20 miles)
Population: 1,083
Median household income: $52,381

No. 13 - Helena, Ala.
Nearest city: Birmingham (20 miles)
Population: 10,296
Median household income: $62,908

No. 12 - Matawan, N.J.
Nearest city: Edison (16 miles)
Population: 8,910
Median household income: $63,594

No. 11 - Middleport, N.Y.
Nearest city: Buffalo (40 miles)
Population: 1,917
Median household income: $36,464

No. 10 - Hopewell, Tenn.
Nearest city: Nashville (104 miles)
Population: 1,815
Median household income: $43,973

No. 9 - Waterville, Ohio
Nearest city: Toledo (15 miles)
Population: 4,828
Median household income: $60,000

No. 8 - Lackland, Tex.
Nearest city: San Antonio (12 miles)
Population: 7,123
Median household income: $32,250

No. 7 - Wilmette, Ill.
Nearest city: Chicago (20 miles)
Population: 27,651
Median household income: $106,773

No. 6 - Waverly, Neb.
Nearest city: Lincoln (15 miles)
Population: 2,448
Median household income: $52,454

No. 5 - Arapahoe, Neb.
Nearest city: Lincoln (192 miles)
Population: 1,028
Median household income: $29,500

No. 4 - Echelon, N.J.
Nearest city: Philadelphia (17 miles)
Population: 10,440
Median household income: $49,410

No. 3 - Deerfield, Ill.
Nearest city: Chicago (27 miles)
Population: 18,420
Median household income: $107,194

No. 2 - Western Springs, Ill.
Nearest city: Chicago (21 miles)
Population: 12,493
Median household income: $98,876

No. 1 - Groesbeck, Ohio
Nearest city: Cincinnati (7 miles)
Population: 7,202
Median household income: $49,235