Halloween Tips to Keep Your Child Safe While Trick-Or-Treating for Candy

AUSTIN, TX — For children, Halloween is something of a precursor to Christmas. It's an exciting time for them, a chance to dress up in costumes and receive free candy from kind strangers and partake of spooky delights.

But Halloween can also be dangerous. For one thing, kids get really excited as they prepare for Halloween, and parents should be extra vigilant that their children don't dart into the street as they make their candy runs.

Hold your child's hand in traveling the streets in search of candy — more so than on other days — especially if your child is a toddler.

On Sunday night in Austin, a 2-year-old was killed after being struck by a vehicle in the parking lot of a Halloween supplies store, later to die of her injuries while being treated at a hospital. She had just exited the store with her family when the tragedy occurred, and details of the accident are being sorted out.

But it's a safe bet the little girl was excited about trick-or-treating the next day. Tragically, the child didn't live to experience the unbridled joy derived from Halloween among children, her life instead tragically cut short in what began as a routine trip to the store for supplies.

Reader's Digest magazine compiled a list of safety tips for parents and guardians taking children out for trick-or-treating tonight. Given the inherent dangers posed tonight as countless children hit the streets in search of candy, the seven safety tips are worth heeding.

• Plan your route in advance. Embarking on a candy search can lead children away from their familiar surroundings, so it's important to stick to known paths to avoid getting lost. Map out routes before leaving the house to avoid becoming disoriented.
• Wear comfortable shoes. It's important for children to dress in comfy, well-fitting footwear. Girls in dresses should avoid heels, which make it harder to negotiate streets and sidewalks. Shoelaces should be double-tied to avoid tripping in the dark, Reader's Digest suggests.
• Stay well lit. Applying reflective tape to a child's costume is a good way to ensure they are seen by motorists. It's also a good idea to carry a flashlight to keep children's paths illuminated during their trick-or-treating.
• Make sure costumes are short. Long costumes that drag on the ground can pose dangers, particularly at night. The length of a costume should be examined upon purchase, and you should hem any material of excessive length to avoid tripping.
• Avoid masks. Yes, they're fun, but masks can make it hard for a child to see or breathe. If possible, ditch the mask and use non-toxic makeup to complete the costume instead, Reader's Digest says. It's actually fun for kids to get their faces painted, yielding in the process a fun activity in which parent and child can partake.
• Use flexible props. Avoid costumes that have fake weapons as accessories. If the child's costume absolutely needs a pretend weapon for it to be complete, make sure it's made of rubber or plastic. In other words, choose a prop that reduces the chance of injury to children or their friends.
• Check candy. When sorting the child's candy haul, throw away anything that's not in its original wrapper — no matter how tempting a treat it might be. If the candy even looks like it might have been opened, throw it out.

Have a fun — and, more importantly, safe — Halloween tonight. Please, watch your children.

>>> Read the full story at Reader's Digest

Photo: Trick or treat, by George Ruiz, via Flickr and Creative Commons