The Safe Child

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Richard Gossage is a father of four children who has been active in the
Block Parent Program for nearly two decades. In 1982, he co-authored
(with Mel Gunton) the book A Parent’s Guide to Streetproofing
Children. A Safe Child is essentially on the same theme but with an
expanded scope: parents must not only streetproof their children but
also consider the dangers of peer groups, schoolyard bullies, and even
organized sports. Gossage points out that parents must walk a fine line
as they seek to give their children a rich, well-rounded environment and
yet keep them out of harm’s way.

The guide is organized into short simple chapters that examine child
safety with respect to location, people, victim dynamics, and
babysitting and other supervised activities. In virtually every
situation, he stresses common sense over hard rules. For example, of the
old cliché “Don’t talk to strangers,” Gossage writes: “The
strongest teacher is example, and we can’t go through a day ...
without talking to strangers. We talk to the stranger who gases up our
car at the service station. We teach our children to go to the door of a
blockparent, who may be a stranger, when they feel threatened. If they
go to a new school in the fall, they will be surrounded by teachers and
strangers. ... Surely one of the most important skills that our children
need to learn is how to meet and evaluate the personalities of new
people—that is, strangers. How can they do this if they cannot talk to
them?”

Although any prolonged discussion of child safety tends to bring out
the paranoia in parents, Gossage manages to give his subject
perspective, pointing out that most human beings are “kind,
well-meaning individuals.” Each chapter is prefaced by a summary for
quick reference, and the text is jargon-free. The book is endorsed by
the Block Parent Program of Canada.