Child Safety on Holiday: Relieving Your Anxieties

Child safety on holiday is often at the forefront of people’s minds when investigating possible locations. Anxiety is also something most parents have.

You fall pregnant = anxiety

You have the baby = anxiety

Your baby starts to teethe = anxiety

Your baby begins to crawl = anxiety

Walking = anxiety

Talking = anxiety

Separation distress = anxiety

And so on…

Believe me when I say that all of these things are perfectly natural. You may find that some concerns are more prominent with your first baby, but some will rear their heads for all offspring!

Anyway, back to the matter in hand – child safety on holiday. How can you start to feel more at ease? Here are some suggestions that should help your anxieties.

Research well

Investigate possible destinations before booking a family holiday. If you know the area and any potential difficulties for your children, you can put plans into place well in advance.

For families with additional needs, such as autism, you may need to create social stories linked to the hotel or holiday home you are staying in, so speaking to people who have already visited could be useful.

Prepare properly

Whether you are heading to Scotland or Spain, Northern Ireland or Niagara Falls, the Lake District or Latvia, it is essential to fully prepare in order to keep everyone safe and happy on holiday. Extreme temperatures can be highly damaging to young sensitive skin, so ensuring you have a decent sun cream is imperative. Likewise, the heat can also cause sun stroke and even seizures in young tots. A wide variety of clothing as well as umbrellas, sunglasses and sun shades can help.

Holidays without the opportunity to swim – are they even holidays? We love heading to the pool at Butlin’s Skegness and any of the Parkdean Resorts parks, but with six children between the two of us, it can be challenging to manage – pair up the teens with a less confident swimmer if at all possible, but keep the complete novices with an adult. If your child is a non-swimmer but has little fear of the water (this is my youngest daughter!), be sure to pack arm bands and floats to help ease your concerns around drowning. While there are some gorgeous swim suits and shorts in blue shades, these are advised against due to the lack of visibility underwater. Choose brighter colours, like pink, red and yellow, to maximise your child’s chance of being seen if they were to bob underwater and encounter difficulties.

Educate fully

As well as being sure that you have packed the right items, it is also useful to speak to the children and prepare them for the holiday. As a child, if you ever lost your parents, however briefly, you will be aware of the gut wrenching sensation, the panic that you are destined to live forever without them. Remind your tots of stranger danger and who to seek help from should they become separated from the group. Consider investing in a GPS tracker for children‘s safety, too, allowing you a bit more help if the worst were to happen. Most of us immediately think of Madeleine McCann and that terrible situation when we consider a child going missing, so having technology to support may relieve the worry somehow.

In addition to going missing, you should also be prepared to educate others. If one of your party has a food intolerance or allergy, ensure that you are able to share this information in a foreign language. Having things written down can be helpful. Some small businesses can create stickers with allergies on, so something like that may improve child safety on holiday.

Most things you do to support your child’s safety happen daily without even thinking about them. A holiday is a much bigger undertaking, but don’t let this ruin your enjoyment and the chance to relax (even just a little bit). Have a wonderful time away!