Do young people living at home with parents have a shared responsibility for safety of the home? If they must grow into responsible adults, training starts in the home. Apart from accidents like falling over objects, taking wrong medications and burns from tap water temperature being too high, over which most parents take precaution, there are other precautions that young people should address. Your home is your private domain and you should contribute to safeguarding it. Here are a few suggestions.

  • Do not allow friends to roam your house freely. As much as you trust your friends, most people will succumb to temptation. Many incidents are known where jewelry, money, valuables, personal belongings and firearms disappeared after friends visited. It is always difficult to confront them after the fact as they are your friends and you do not want to hurt their feelings by asking about missing items. In cases like missing firearms, the incident must be reported to police. It’s your home. So help by laying down and maintaining house rules that designate certain sections of the house as out-of-bounds and let visitors know that. Most people will respect your house rules.

  • Keep garage doors locked. Garage doors are a favorite entry point for intruders. They know that many people forget to lock the inner door of the garage. Even if the inner door is locked, an intruder can make a forced entry working through the inner door from the closed garage. Many homes have been burglarized in this manner.
  • Don’t let strangers in the front door. Burglars have been known to use innocent house calls to get into the lobby so they can inspect the interior for alarms, guard locks and other tell-tale vulnerabilities of your home. They are usually part of a gang and pass this information on to their buddies who do the rest.
  • Keep cars locked. Whether cars are parked in or out of the garage, keep them locked. The incidence of petty theft as well as automobile theft is on the rise. Don’t make it easy for thieves to burglarize your car.
  • Never leave you car running unattended. Even if you live in a safe neighborhood, this is not a good idea. Thieves love safe neighborhoods. If your car is stolen with the keys in the ignition, your insurance may not accept liability. They ask for the keys to make sure you have not been so careless.
  • Be aware of your environment. Develop the habit of noticing what’s around you. It’s easy to practice this and become good at it by asking yourself to describe what you noticed when you came out of the house. If there were people outside, how many were there, what ages, clothing, colors, direction they were going and many such things we often take for granted. These can be the most important clues for police in solving crime./li>