The Halloween costumes are already appearing in the shops. What would your child do if a “fun scare” stopped feeling fun? Halloween is still a little way off, but the masks, decorations and costumes are getting children excited. It’s a useful moment to talk about something we teach in Family Bodyguard: having a family code word or phrase. Picture a Halloween party. The music is loud, children are running around, and someone in a mask keeps trying to frighten your child. Your child comes over and says, “I don’t like it.” In all the noise and excitement, an adult might hear that as “this game is a bit scary” rather than “I need you to help me now.” A family code phrase removes that guesswork. Choose a phrase together that your child can say naturally but wouldn’t normally use by accident. Agree exactly what it means. For example, one phrase could mean “I’m uncomfortable — come and stay with me”; another could mean “I want to leave — please don’t make me explain it here.” Your family should choose its own words and keep them private. The parent’s part matters just as much. When you hear the phrase, respond straight away. Move close, take your child out of the situation if that’s what the phrase means, and ask questions somewhere they feel comfortable. Don’t ask them to explain themselves in front of the person who has upset them. Practise it before Halloween. You could ask: “What if someone in a mask won’t leave you alone?” or “What if you’re at a party and want me to take you home?” Let your child try saying the phrase so it feels easy to use when things are noisy or confusing. As the clocks change and evenings get darker, that same family plan can help on the walk home, at an event or anywhere a child feels uneasy. It gives them a clear way to reach you without having to find the perfect words in the moment. Does your family already have a code word or phrase? If you do, please don’t share the actual words here — I’d be interested to hear how you taught your children when to use it and how you agreed to respond.

⚠️ BEFORE YOU POST THAT BACK-TO-SCHOOL PHOTO… It’s back-to-school time, and understandably our social media feeds are full of proud parents posting photos of their children in their uniforms. But before you hit POST, take 30 seconds and look at the photograph through somebody else’s eyes. What can they learn from it? 🔍 School badge or school name 🔍 Street name 🔍 House number 🔍 Car registration 🔍 Child’s name 🔍 Their age or school year 🔍 Where they live 🔍 Where they go to school 🔍 Potentially even part of their daily routine Individually, these things might seem insignificant. Put several of them together and you’ve potentially given a complete stranger a surprising amount of information about your child and your family. And today there’s another consideration. Once a photograph is publicly available online, you lose a degree of control over it. Images can be downloaded, copied, used for fake profiles and, increasingly, manipulated using AI. You absolutely CAN share those proud moments. Just share the memory, not the information. ❤️ Before posting, zoom in and check the whole photograph. Crop or blur school logos, street signs, house numbers and registration plates. Avoid posting your child’s full name, exact school or regular routine, and check who can actually see and share your posts. As they get older, involve your children too. Ask them if they’re happy for a photograph to be posted. Family Bodyguard principle: Protecting your family isn’t about being paranoid. It’s about being observant and reducing unnecessary risk. 👉 PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH ALL YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY — especially parents with children going back to school this week. It might make somebody look twice before they press POST. #FamilyBodyguard #BackToSchool #ChildSafety #OnlineSafety #SituationalAwareness #Parenting #ThinkBeforeYouPost #children

📱 WOULD YOU SEND YOUR CHILD TO SCHOOL WITHOUT A PHONE? With the new school year starting, there’s a lot of discussion at the moment about children and mobile phones. As parents, we often give our children a phone partly for safety. We want them to be able to contact us if they miss the bus, get separated from friends, feel uncomfortable around somebody, or simply need help. But there’s another side to it. A smartphone can also open the door to strangers, social media, bullying, inappropriate content and people having access to our children that we would never allow in the real world. So here’s today’s Family Bodyguard question: 👉 At what age do you think a child should have their own smartphone? A) Under 10 B) 10–12 C) 13–15 D) 16+ E) It depends on the child And here’s the bigger question… Do you think a smartphone makes your child safer — or potentially puts them at greater risk? Interested to hear what other parents think. 👇 🥋 Family Bodyguard Protecting our families through awareness, knowledge and preparation.

Observation is King When It Comes to Safety One of the things I want to bring into the Family Bodyguard group as we develop it is observation. My background includes working as a specialist security chauffeur, security backup car driver and trainer, and I’ve also been a member of the Institute of Advanced Motorists for over 20 years. At some point I want to bring some advanced driving principles into the group, because I believe they are every bit as relevant to family safety as many of the other subjects we talk about. The photographs I’ve included are from a very old copy of Roadcraft – The Police Drivers’ Manual. Roadcraft principles have formed the basis of advanced police driving and much of the advanced driver training taught by organisations such as the Institute of Advanced Motorists. Look closely at the illustrations because they demonstrate something incredibly simple. A very small change in your position can make a massive difference to what you can see. Move the vehicle slightly and suddenly you can see further around the bend, further along the road or into an area that was previously hidden. That extra information gives you more time to make a decision. When people have an accident you often hear, “The car came from nowhere.” Very little actually comes from nowhere. More often, we simply didn’t see it early enough. And that’s the important bit. If you see something developing, you have choices. You can slow down, change position, create distance or stop. If you don’t see it, you’re no longer responding to a potential problem. You’re reacting to something that’s already happening. I also think we need to change the way we think about driving. Over the years I’ve heard plenty of people openly say, “I’m not a very good driver.” My immediate question is always: Why not? If you’re regularly driving your children and family around, that’s quite a statement when you think about it. You wouldn’t happily get onto an aeroplane if the pilot introduced himself and said, “I’m not a very good pilot.”

Whilst on holiday I took my Strong kids to the home of the world’s strongest men. 💪🏻 Keeping them inspired and motivated to grow and become stronger boys.