5 Safety Skills Your Child Should Know By Age 10

Your child may be entering that tween stage – not the little child they once were, yet not quite the teenager they are becoming. As they gain more confidence and independence, here are 5 skills they should have to keep them and those around them safe. 

By age 10, your tween should know:

1) How To Help Someone Who Is Choking

Teach your child that if someone isn’t coughing and isn’t able to talk and is seemingly unable to breathe, ask that person if they need help. If they are conscious and able to indicate they need help, teach your child how to do abdominal thrusts. 

• Stand behind the person who is choking and wrap your hands around them.
• Make a clenched fist with one hand, and place the thumb side just above their belly button but below their rib cage.
• Hold your fist with your other hand and thrust it into their abdomen. Repeat until the object pops out.

2) How To Treat A Wound

Your child should be able to recognize when a wound requires more than just a regular bandaid. One of the most important things is to teach your child to remain calm at the sight of blood. Here are three easy steps to treat a wound.

• Apply pressure to the wound with gauze or a clean cloth until the bleeding stops
• Clean the wound with soap and water to prevent infection
• Dress the wound with gauze and tape

3) Internet Safety

By the time your child is 10, they should have a general knowledge of computers, phones and personal devices that are connected with the internet. 

One of the most key components of internet safety is open and honest communication between yourself (the parent) and your child. 

There are many parenting monitoring applications and tools that can help keep your child safe as they gain confidence and independence on the internet. Some general and common safety tips include:

• Remind your child to never share personal information on the internet
• Keep social media accounts private
• Never add someone as a friend who you don’t have an in-person relationship with 
• Make your child aware of the dangers of the internet including bullying, identity theft and malicious intentions

4) How To Use The Stove

The best way to teach your children stove safety is to have fun with it and involve them in the kitchen! There are many child-friendly cookbooks you can use to choose meals that they can create alongside you as they gain confidence in the kitchen. Aside from using the stove, they should know how to properly handle a knife when chopping. For the stove, they need to know the basics:

• How to turn it off and on
• How to know if the burners are hot
• How to properly handle a hot pot/pan
• How to put out a small kitchen fire

5) How To Call 9-1-1

This one may seem pretty simple, it’s a call that we all dread when our toddler plays with our phone. Well, they may know the phone number but do they know all of the necessary information to get the help that is needed? Here’s what they need to know:

• Their home address including town or city
• Their home phone number or parent’s cell phone number
• How to describe the emergency
• Basic first aid until help arrives

We have a Home Alone course for 10 year olds that can be taken either in-class or online -check it out for more helpful things your child should know including basic first aid, how to use a fire extinguisher and how to create a fire escape plan!