Over the years, it has been observed that children are often not supervised adequately during school holidays. 

Ensuring their safety requires a multi-faceted approach. Parents and caregivers must focus on active supervision, managing the environment, setting clear rules and safety measures and providing firm guidance to keep children safe. 

Many parents keep working through long school holidays or vacations, which makes supervision and safeguarding a difficult task. Parents must stay alert and aware of their children’s safety at all times. 

Here are some practical tips to help ensure children stay safe in all situations. 

Know where your children are at all times. Be aware of who their friends are and where they live. Keep the contact numbers of friends and their parents. 

Have conversations with your children about safety, such as avoiding strangers and not accepting food from unknown people. Call your children frequently to ensure they are safe, and set clear boundaries regarding where they can go during holidays. Ensure responsible supervision for young children. Young children should stay with adults who will instill discipline, enforce rules and prioritise their safety. 

Children should be informed to play only in designated safe areas, such as playgrounds. 

Provide emergency contact information. Make sure children have access to your work number as well as your cell phone. Teach them basic emergency actions and who to call or where to go in case of danger. Manage environmental hazards. Avoid leaving buckets of standing water, as young children can drown. 

Keep children who cannot swim away from swimming pools, rivers and ponds. 

Ensure they do not play in unsafe areas such as dumping sites, open drains, caves, abandoned houses or rivers. 

Swimming should always be supervised by adults. 

Prevent abuse and exploitation. 

Child molestation and sexual abuse are increasing. Children must stay with people you trust, who will care for and protect them. 

Recent studies in Sub-Saharan Africa indicate that approximately 20 to 37% of girls experience childhood sexual violence and 12 to 25% experience physical violence before age 18 (Summer et al., 2015; Swedo et al., 2019). 

Among boys, the prevalence of physical violence ranges from 30 to 45%. 

Most abuse is committed by people children know, including relatives. 

Create a safe environment helps children feel secure, reduces stress and supports healthy coping during challenging circumstances. 

Arrange safe spaces if supervision is limited. 

If no one can care for your young children, arrange for them to visit libraries or other safe spaces during work hours where they can read or engage in educational activities. 

Monitor teenagers carefully. 

Teens should avoid meeting people they meet online, and parents should monitor their social media use. 

Structured holiday programmes are important, including reading, chores, physical activity and limited screen time. 

Prioritise mental, emotional and psychological health. 

Safety rules are crucial, but the well-being of both parent and child matters too. 

Encourage physical activity, manage stress and maintain routines, as holidays can be stressful when everyone is home, and multiple activities are happening. 

Children’s safety during holidays should be a concern for families, communities and the nation. Let us all work together to keep Namibia’s children safe. 

For a peaceful holiday, children’s safety must come first. 

Every life counts – let the safety and lives of our children count above all. 

*Aletta Eises is a former education director in the Oshikoto region. She is the founder of Vision Core Education, and a youth and well-being advocate.