HAVING A SAFE HALLOWEEN

Halloween is coming in just a few weeks and it's time to start thinking about teaching your children to be safe as they attend parties and go trick-or-treating. Following are some easy, common sense tips to help your children have a safe holiday.

• Trick or Treat with a group, and take along a parent or teen-age brother or sister.
• Stay outside the homes you visit.
• Take a flashlight and walk on the sidewalks.
• Wear make-up instead of a mask that inhibits your vision.
• Cross streets at the crosswalks and stay away from cars.
• Trust your instincts! Stay away from any strange situations.
• Wear a costume that is light in color and not too long. Add something that glows in the dark or is reflective.
• Trick-or-treat in neighborhoods you know and trust, and that are well-lit. Stay out of dark alleys, dark stairwells, and remote locations.
• Discuss your Halloween route with your parents and the time you will return.
• Be sure all treats are wrapped and sealed. Eat them only after a parent checks them first.
• If you do not feel safe trick-or-treating, do not trick-or-treat.