The Best Defense
11 Products To Keep Your Kids Safe

From house fires and traffic accidents to Internet predators and peer pressure, parents know that keeping their children out of harm’s way is no simple task. Although they can’t prevent every scary situation, enterprising entrepreneurs continually develop new products designed to give parents an extra layer of protection, from inventing flameless candles that reduce the risk of fire to creating monitoring devices to keep an eye on how fast their teen is driving and notify them in the event of an accident. Check out these 11 child-safety products.

Beyond Stop, Drop & Roll

1 - Candle Impressions

    Though tweens and teens often love to decorate their rooms with candles, many parents won’t let their children light them — and with good reason. Candles are responsible for approximately 10,000 residential fires each year, according to the U.S. Fire Administration, with unattended candles and those placed too close to combustibles sparking nearly 40 percent.
     To offer the ambiance without the risk, Candle Impressions created its line of flameless candles. Battery-operated, the vanilla-scented candles, made of real wax, simulate the warm glow and swaying flicker of authentic candlelight with the flip of a switch. Available in a variety of colors, sizes and styles, Candle Impressions’ flameless candles provide anywhere from 350 to 700 hours of candlelight effect.

Where to Purchase: Aruna International, www.candleimpressions.net, www.sharperimage.com and www.QVC.com.

Price: $12.99 to $29.99

Photo courtesy of Candle Impressions

2 - SignalONE Vocal Smoke Alarm

     Whether it’s a candle or faulty wiring that sparks a house fire, getting out quickly is key. And since more than 70 percent of home fires occur between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., waking up is critical for surviving. While you may think that your blaring smoke detector is loud enough to shatter glass, astonishingly, two-thirds of children under the age of 16 will sleep through it. Seem unbelievable? If so, try an experiment that may save your child’s life. Set off your smoke alarm in the middle of the night and wait in the hall until your children come out. You’ll likely be stunned at how long it takes them to respond, if they wake up at all.
      Although children sleeping through smoke alarms has been a known problem in the fire-service industry since its invention in the ’70s, parents have no other options for waking everyone in the house in the event of a fire. That is, until now. Scientifically proven to awaken more children than traditional smoke detectors, the SignalONE Vocal Smoke Alarm alternates a temporal tone siren with a personalized message recorded by the child’s parent, such as “Katie. Wake Up. There’s a fire. Leave the house.”
      A study published in the October 2006 issue of Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, compared a parent voice smoke alarm with a conventional residential tone smoke alarm, and the results revealed stark differences in their performance. While the tone alarm successfully awakened 58 percent of children and prompted 38 percent to perform a self-stimulated rescue escape procedure, the parent voice alarm woke up 96 percent of children and prompted 83 percent to escape. “Not only did the parent voice smoke alarm significantly outperform the conventional residential tone smoke alarm, but the results were dramatic,” noted the study’s authors. “Many of the children who slept through five minutes of the tone alarm bolted upright in bed almost immediately when the mother’s voice alarm was used.”

Photo courtesy of SignalOne

An Extra Set of Eyes

3 - Chaperone Service

     If their 5-year-old should be playing at the neighbor’s house and their 9-year-old should be at school, parents can turn to their mobile phone provider to find out if their kids really are where they’re supposed to be. By signing up for Verizon Wireless’ Chaperone Service with Child Locator and Child Zone, parents can keep an eye on their kids based on the location of their green LG Migo handsets, which are specifically designed for the capabilities and tastes of young children.
      Using the Chaperone Web site, parents can construct a “child zone” around the vicinity of locations that their child frequents, such as school, playgrounds or daycare centers, and they can be zoned for one time, always on, or on for up to 24 hours. When the child arrives or leaves the predetermined area with their Migo phone, the parent receives a text message on their Verizon Wireless phone. Plus, parents can program up to four phone numbers into the Migo’s speed dial, giving their kids a way to contact a trusted adult with the touch of a button if they find themselves in an unsafe situation.

Where to Purchase: Authorized Verizon Wireless Communications stores and Circuit City

Price: After subscribing to a Verizon Wireless Family Share Plan with a Migo phone on the account, basic Chaperone Child Locator service has a $9.99 monthly access fee per line, or you can add Chaperone Child Locator and Chaperone with Child Zone for $19.99 monthly access per line.

Photo courtesy of Verizon Wireless

4 - Teen Alive

     It’s a fact. Teens drive one way when their parents are in the car and another when they’re unsupervised, and it shows. In Georgia alone, more than 65,000 teenagers were in automobile accidents in 2004, and the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration cites teenage driving as the leading cause of death for teenagers.
      To give parents a way to monitor their teen’s behavior behind the wheel when they can’t ride along, David Hopkins III created Teen Alive GA, which combines a real-time GPS tracking system with cellular and web-based communication technologies. This state-of-the-art system tracks everything from how fast their teen is driving to where the car is, down to street address accuracy, and it stores the details online for review up to three months. If the vehicle is involved in an accident, the system will instantaneously call up to eight emergency contact numbers simultaneously. Plus, parents can receive alerts if their teen travels to a pre-set off-limits area, such as another city or even a boyfriend’s house, or if they exceed a certain speed.
     “We interviewed hundreds and hundreds of teenagers, and none of them really cared about the speeding aspect of it or the crash part of it,” Hopkins noted. “The vast majority hated the fact that mom and dad would know where they really are.”

Where to Purchase: 678-887-1213 or www.georgiateen.com

Price: Installation and activation: $149; monthly subscription fee: $31

Preparation is Key

5 - Connect With Kids

      When it comes to hiding key details of their lives, from where they are to what they’re up to, teenagers are masters of disguise. Even if they are being bullied or dealing with a sexual predator online, teens often opt to try and handle the situation on their own rather than going to their parents for help.
      To open the lines of communication between parents and teens, Connect with Kids (CWK) created a series of DVDs that feature real kids sharing their true stories. The programs cover peer pressure, bullying, dating, drugs, drinking and driving, body image, Web safety — more than 100 topics in all. Although the series originally aired on network television, parent demand prompted Stacey DeWitt, founder and CEO of CWK, to make the programs available for purchase online.
     “You will be amazed at how your children will open up once you start watching the TV programs together,” DeWitt said. “The DVDs are designed for parents and kids to watch and learn together. It’s a non-threatening way to have a conversation about many of the dangers kids face and to learn real solutions that can work for your family.”

Where to Purchase: 888-598-KIDS (5437) or www.connectwithkids.com

Price: DVDs retail for $19.95 each, but CWK often has special offers on its Web site.
Each DVD comes with a family viewing guide with conversation starters, the latest facts, and parent tips from experts.

Photo courtesy of CONNECT WITH KIDS

6 - Kidini: A Safe Way Home

      While an engaging DVD may encourage teens to tune into life lessons, toddlers and young children often respond to catchy songs. To drive home the messages in its child abduction prevention program, Kidini enlisted the services of Groove Tunes Studios to create a CD featuring its seven characters, each of which has its own method for staying safe. For instance, the owl is always on the lookout and the frog leaps away when he senses danger.
      Using catchy songs, simple lessons and fun characters, Kidini’s “A Safe Way Home: A Child Abduction Prevention Program” teaches little kids how to stay safe without being too annoying for adults to tolerate. “We tried to make all the music sound interesting and different from one another so that even the parents would enjoy the music and play the music with the kids to reinforce the lesson plans,” said co-producer Eric Tunison, owner of Groove Tunes Studios in Alpharetta.

Where to Purchase: 770-401-9728 or www.kidini.com

Price: $29.99, which includes a CD with the story, lesson and song of each of the seven characters;
a second CD with songs only; and a 12-page booklet with song words and pictures of the characters.

Photo courtesy of KIDINI

In Case of Separation

7, 8, 9 - Kid Link ID, Child Locator Alarm and Safe-Card ID

      No matter how carefully parents watch their children, there’s no telling when the urge to play hide-and-seek will pop into their little ones’ heads. For Kimberly Soller, founder of Mama Bear Enterprises, a one-stop shop for child-safety products, her then 3-year-old daughter decided to play the game while shopping in a department store.
     “She was 50 yards away from me — at that age, she was never more than 10 feet — and she was under a mannequin display hiding,” Soller recalled. “We had 10 to 15 people looking for her, and she wasn’t answering. We couldn’t even see her on any of the monitors because she was too short. It was so infuriating and so terrifying all at the same time. If I’d had something on my keychain that I could have clicked a button and it would have set off an audible alarm on something tied to her little shoe, then I would have immediately known where she was.”
      After she calmed down, Soller hit the Internet to track down products that would help her locate her daughter more quickly, should she ever wander off again. Among other things, Soller found a Child Locator, a Kid Link ID and a Safe-Card ID. With the Child Locator, parents need only thread the plastic bear onto the child’s shoe or a belt. Should their young one wander, they can press the keychain transmitter, and the bear will chirp, allowing parents to hear where their child is. If their little one is out of range and another adult finds the child first, the reunion will happen much more quickly if the child is wearing some form of identification. The stylish, nylon Kid Link ID bracelet keeps vital information, such as the parents’ cell numbers, close at hand. Available in pink and green camouflage, pink, blue, orange and gray, kids see it as a fun fashion accessory while parents view it as peace of mind.
      The Safe-Card ID was also designed to aid a missing or injured child. The fingerprinting and photo ID kit provides the authorities and good Samaritans with vital contact information. Similar to a laminated driver’s license, the wallet-sized ID card includes a color photo and fingerprint. Parents, grandparents and caregivers are advised to carry these around in a wallet or purse. The packet also contains a child’s shoe tag, which holds a concealed duplicate of the emergency card. The information is sealed until broken open by authorities. In addition to the card and tag, Safe-Card ID contains a fingerprint ink strip, laminating sleeves, and a full fingerprint card for home records, making it a very reliable source.

Where to Purchase: 770-778-2002 or www.mamabear.us

Price: Child Locator: $29.99; Kid Link ID: $12.50; Safe-Card ID: $4.99

Kid Link ID & Child Locator Alarm Photo courtesy of RJ JUHAN

Safe-Card ID Photo courtesy of MAMA BEAR ENTERPRISES

10 - OnGuard Kids Personal Safety Alert

     Though products like the Child Locator may help parents track down their preschoolers, they won’t have much luck convincing their tweens to wear a bear on their shoe, no matter how cute it is. To give kids the ability to signal for help should they find themselves in an unsafe situation, Concord Camera Corporation created OnGuard Kids, a personal safety alert system. Disguised as a watch with interchangeable faceplates and a snap-on flashlight, OnGuard Kids also sports a 110-decibel alarm and SOS signal that can be activated by children in the event of an emergency. Packaged with the watch is an educational DVD hosted by Bob Stuber, family safety expert, which teaches children how to use the watch and empowers and educates kids about staying safe.

Where to Purchase: 770-778-2002 or www.onguardkids.com

Price: $39.95, which includes the watch, three faceplates, a snap-on flashlight, and an educational DVD with Bob Stuber

Photo courtesy of Concord Camera Corporation

11 - Digital KeySafe

     Perfect for latchkey kids, GE Security’s Digital KeySafe will provide your children with quick and secure access to a spare house key in the event they lock themselves out. Instead of waiting outside for their parents to come home, children need only punch in the combination and the Digital KeySafe will release the key. Unlike bulky lockboxes, the Digital KeySafe’s sleek design provides an added level of security with style. To make it easy for your children to remember, consider using birthday dates or locker combinations as the basis for the code. As an added bonus, families can easily change the digital combination, giving them the ability to set a temporary code for a house sitter while on vacation and return to their normal code once they return.

Where to Purchase: Area hardware stores, including Home Depot and True Value

Price: $39 to $45

Photo courtesy of GE Security