Voices for Voices®

Protecting Our Children: Essential Safety Tips for Parents and Guardians | Ep 293

• Founder of Voices for Voices®, Justin Alan Hayes • Season 4 • Episode 293

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Protecting Our Children: Essential Safety Tips for Parents and Guardians | Ep 293

Back-to-school season brings unique safety challenges for parents and guardians that go far beyond new supplies and schedules. Justin Alan Hayes shares essential safety strategies to protect children from modern dangers including school violence, predatory behavior, and bullying.

• Walking in groups significantly reduces the risk of becoming a victim
• Consider bulletproof backpack panels as an additional safety measure
• "Don't talk to strangers" advice needs updating for today's complex social environments
• Teaching children about body privacy is essential protection against grooming
• If authorities don't respond to concerns, keep escalating to higher levels
• Kathy Picard's book "I Love You So Much That" helps parents discuss body safety
• Parents must be the first source of information on sensitive topics
• Persistent advocacy is necessary when reporting bullying or inappropriate behavior

Please give us a thumbs up, like, share, follow, and subscribe to help us reach and help as many people as possible. Your support helps us continue sharing these important conversations.

Chapter Markers 

0:00 Introduction and Welcome

4:18 Back-to-School Safety Basics

8:16 School Shooting Protection Measures

14:25 Beyond "Don't Talk to Strangers"

19:49 Grooming Awareness and Reporting

22:42 Protecting Children's Privacy

27:14 Taking Action Against Bullying

#ChildSafety #ParentingTips #SafetyForKids #ProtectOurChildren #GuardianAdvice #FamilySafety #KidsAwareness #SafeEnvironment #EmergencyPreparedness #ParentingHacks #ChildProtectionStrategies #SafePlaygrounds #HomeSafetyTips #OnlineSafetyForKids #ParentalGuidance #justiceforsurvivors #justice4survivors #VoicesforVoices #VoicesforVoicesPodcast #JustinAlanHayes #JustinHayes #help3billion #TikTok #Instagram #truth #factoverfictionmatters #transparency

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Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. I'm your host, founder of Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes. If you can do us a big favor and give us a thumbs up like share, follow, subscribe all those things are free and will help us reach and help as many people as we can, which is the big goal that we have. Thank you for joining us. If this is your first episode, or whether you've been with us from the beginning, we're happy to have you, no matter where you are, if you're in the United States or any point across the world. Thank you for choosing to spend even just a second with us. We value having your attention, even if it is just for a second or two, and we're going to be getting into another important topic which comes up as we in the United States as we turn the calendars towards August, and I know as a child growing up that I wasn't too terribly enthused when August was coming, because I knew that that meant that going back to school was just around the corner, and it seemed like that summer always went way too fast, and I think that continues to be the case. It's like anybody has a vacation, I know for me it takes a couple of days for my body really even to just realize, like, oh, I'm at the beach or wherever I'm at for vacation, and that I can take a deep breath or two and like, okay, I don't have to be thinking about all the day-to-day things that I need to. I can decompress a little bit. So, with that being said, with this particular episode first airing in August here in 2025, I wanted to cover some areas that maybe we know about, maybe we don't, maybe it's a confirmation about, maybe we don't, maybe it's a confirmation, maybe it's again just a refresh, and try to just again give you as much information and try to give you the ability to make the best decision you can and to use Voices for Voices. For part of that. We thank you for that. We share facts and information that we want to bring to the public, and whether that's an individual's mental health story, their trauma, their addiction, their human trafficking, their bullying story, then that's what we'll do. We'll support in any way that we can. So what we'll do here for this one, this episode, is we're going to talk about a lot of back-to-school tips for those who have children, those who have grandchildren, nephews, nieces or guardians Not a Cleveland Guardians, but a guardian of an individual for one reason or another. We're not going to get into those specifics. We're just going to get into, you know, if you have an influence on children. This is who this particular episode is for.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

So something as small as having your child zip their backpacks up before they leave the house, the condo, the apartment, and if they are walking, then we obviously want to have that backpack zipped up. And if they're a walker to school, we want them to, in as many cases as humanly possible, to walk with a group, walk with at least one other person, because when we're in groups, violence and crimes are less likely to occur when there's groups instead of one person. If you're able to get three or four, then that's great. It doesn't mean we have to be the best friends with all of those. That's great. It doesn't mean we have to be the best friends with all of those. I think that's an area to just think about and it's hard at any age when we're looking and we're seeking approval, even when we know we don't have to Like, oh, am I doing a good job? Did I do a good job? Did I do a good job. And if somebody either says we didn't or is just a little bit rude when they respond, you know it can hurt anybody's feelings. And guess what? We're humans, we all have feelings and so walking in groups is obviously preferable. If they ride the bus. Again, being in a group usually is helpful when there are bus stops. I think one of the intentions from the school and planning is, as much as possible, to have more than one student picked up at a location. I know that's not always the case, but I think that's one of the big intentions that planners have when they look at that. And again, that's that whole being in a group waiting for the bus, even if it's one minute or five minutes or ten minutes or if it's super hot or super cold, and obviously having an adult guardian the merrier, I guess is the kind of cliche that I used over the years. I don't know how it got into my mind, but it's one that I use. So, yeah, the larger the group, the less likely that a crime will occur. It doesn't take the chance of crime down to zero, it just lowers that amount. That's really what we're trying to do With backpacks, and this is something that unfortunately just happens is from time to time.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

Sometimes there are school shootings, and and so for myself, as a parent now I'm thinking more and more like how can I, how can I help my child defend themselves if they were to get into that type of a situation? And the school so far, early in her career as a student, has done a good job of sprinkling in different trainings, like with the tornado drills, and it's I mean as a parent. It really just breaks my heart that we even have to go this length, regardless if our children are in high school or whether they're in kindergarten or even if they're at daycare. It's just hard to fathom that these terrible things happen. One thing that we can do as parents, as guardians, is you can purchase. They call it a panel, and so basically it's really thin and it's meant to go inside of a backpack and it's bulletproof, and there's different levels of bulletproof. I don't know if it's like level one, two and three, and so there's options, and so that would be something to take into account.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

It might seem like something minor, something small, but heaven forbid if I mean I pray this never happens ever again. Heaven forbid something like this happens to at least know that you know our child is able to if they're going from place one to place two, that they could shield themselves a little bit with their backpack. Again, that's not a foolproof thing, it's not 100%, but it's something. It's something that we can do, it's something that's easily, it's not illegal to have, so it's easily to conceal. It literally just almost looks like another folder, and so that's something that you may want to think about for your child, no matter how again, no matter how young they are, no matter how mature or the grade that they're in they're in high school, they're graduating.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

I look at it this way you can never be too safe. You can't control everything Heck, we can't control a whole lot and so, if heaven forbid, we're in a situation we would like to us as parents or just an adult, we don't have children in the family we might want to think about those things, maybe for ourselves too, like, oh well, it's not just schools that these terrible events happen at, and again, I pray that it never happens ever again. But again, we're trying to give information, to help and to inform, and this is definitely a public safety concern of there's a chance at some point that something could occur, and so I, for me, as a parent, want to share, definitely with you and anybody out there and please pass this episode on, share it along with all the other episodes as well but especially for you know we're talking about, you know, the back to school and so the prices vary on, you know, these types of panels. But again, you know we're looking for as much peace as we can in our mind that when we, if our child walks to school, whether we walk them to school, whether they ride the bus, that once they kind of leave us and our residents, that they're as prepared as they can be, and again, that's something that could potentially save their life, and so I would highly encourage that, if that's you, if you're able to.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

I'm laughing because this is like the old adage don't talk to strangers. That's like, oh yeah, of course we don't want our children talking to strangers. Well, it's not quite like it used to be when I was growing up and my mom tells us this story, and it was summertime and I wanted to do one of these lemonade stands, so we did it, we set it up and apparently there was just a bank robbery up the street and the getaway car and the getaway people were driving past and I guess I was they didn't stop to get the lemonade, but I didn't know the difference. I was just like, oh, there's a car, hey, would you like some lemonade? And so that's just like a very extreme example that happened on that day at that time.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

But we do, we just want to make sure that our children are talking to and listening to the right people, and we know there's people in all kinds of professions that are awesome, and then there's people that, whatever reason, we all have flaws as human beings, and so there are some individuals that do have flaws, and they may be in positions of power or authority, and so we really need to talk to our children, not just well, don't talk to strangers. It's okay to talk to your teachers, Well, not all, and this is coming from an educator myself teaching university-age students. That doesn't mean that the individual, all those individuals, are safe people. So we want to mold our children so that they're able to spot that as much as they can. And it's hard to spot, even as adults, what people's motives are and why they're asking. Because there's something that's come up over the past several years.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

It's called grooming, and part of grooming, you know, I heard of the Epstein and the Diddy trial and other ways, other avenues, and grooming. I don't want to say it. It's like grooming and combing are two different things, but for some reason combing comes to my mind of you're combing your hair and all the strands, or as many strands, are pointed in whatever direction you want them to be. And so grooming is really an individual that is using their place and power as an adult, as whoever, of just having those conversations and trying to be one of those trusted people and, like they call me, it's trying to get the individuals, the victims that they don't know they're victims going in the direction they want them to go, in the direction that they want. And so having these short conversations to a child might seem minor and it's not a big deal. I want to use minor because minor has a definition of not being an adult, so younger children or older children that we just need to be aware of those times and those conversations that are happening and not to be afraid to ask our children.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

And if we're not getting answers, then we talk to the teacher. If we're not getting answers, we go to the principal. If we're not getting answers, we go to the superintendent, superintendent, we go to the board. Go to the board, we go to the police, police, we go to the FBI. And these are things that I learned from Miss Anna, who is Ellison Berry's mom in Texas, who would write the Take it Down law. It was the Take it Down Act, now it's the take it down law, and so that's something she shared with me. She's like if something's going on, you've got to just keep calling. You know, they say the squeaky wheel gets to grease. Well, if you call one person they don't respond, then it's like well, I called them. Well, call two people. Call their superior, call you know city council, call the principal, call. You know, show up, and you know at those conferences and demand answers, show up to school board meetings and demand answers, because you're probably not the only one that's going through something similar, if it's reached that boiling point. And so I want to thank Ms Anna for the tips that she's given us around.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

This content and this material is just keep trying, was just keep trying, and I like to think of it as well with us in our organization. That right Like if somebody doesn't like our show, there's a ton of other shows. They don't like our podcast. There's a ton to choose from. You know, I call it the I don't know, like the grocery store. You know, you go to one grocery store, you're looking for one thing and you don't find it, so then you go to the next one and then you go to the next. Well, it's the same thing with shows and podcasts. Well, you don't like this one, you don't like this episode, go to a different episode. You don't like that, go to a different show.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

We're exercising our freedom of speech, and so some of the bad actors are able to also use their freedom of speech. So are we? The bad actors might not like when we do exercise our First Amendment, right, but as a US citizen, under the US Constitution, first Amendment, free speech. And then we talk about the public. We want to inform when at all possible, we want to share, we want as many people to feel less alone, like they're in the dark, that they're in the shadows, that they can't come forward, and we want to be part of that guiding light where individuals are. And so these soul episodes I'm doing are just as important, because these topics are touching many, many, many, many lives, many, many, many, like thousands of lives, and I'm just learning about right.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

So if a teacher watches or listens, well, and they find the information helpful, which we hope they do, we don't see any reason why they wouldn't. And then they share those tips with, maybe, an orientation with parents, and then the parents may share with their friends that have children, or even if they don't. And so we have this effect that we don't know, as an organization or as a human being, how we're impacting and how many people we're really helping or affecting. And that's what keeps me going, that's one of the big things that keeps me going. Just because I don't hear every single person or organization gives specific feedback does not mean they're not using some form of the information we're sharing. That's just not the case.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

So don't talk to strangers. Yeah, one of our guests, kathy Picard. She is a law changer around Boston Massachusetts. She has a book I Love you so Much that and it talks about being a kid. But also the doctor can ask you about your privates and even as tough as it sounds sometimes there's not great doctors, but in general the doctors are able to ask about our privates. But when other people outside of that, and the parents and the guardians, our children need to feel comfortable enough to tell us, tell us as parents, tell us, as guardians, tell us as people in authority.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

That can help escalate. If somebody is, you know, even if they didn't ask them, maybe they asked like their friend ask them, maybe they ask their friend. We just need to communicate. It's hard to do, right, because I, by trade, am an introvert which is hard to fathom, right, because of all the talking I do. But there's a lot of us that are introverts and we're silent a lot. We might not say a whole lot, like verbally. You know there's times, obviously, like these, where I'm able to turn on. You know the extrovertness we'll call it. But yeah, if somebody's asking about our kids' privates, like that needs to be escalated ASAP. This isn't I wait till tomorrow or I wait till Monday. This is escalation right now and I think that's what we need to do as parents. We need to take that control back. We need to. We're the parents we know best there are children, so I'm not going to have somebody else tell my child. Nor should you feel comfortable with a whole lot of people asking these types of questions. So that's what this book I Love you so Much that it's available in English and Spanish. It's on Amazon.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

Kathy Picard you saw her last name, p-i-c-a-r-d. She was one of our first speakers at our first event, voices for Voices. She's been with us from the beginning. It's amazing that she wants to continue to help children and she gets asked for book signings a lot and one of the biggest shameful parts of that is so many people ask her not to read. It's like a page or a page and a half and that page and page and a half out of I think like 20 pages or so children's book with pictures. You know the bigger font, larger font, easier to read. It talks about that. You know your privates are your private. You know, keep your privates private. You know a doctor, and so there's that page, page and a half.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

People are saying Kathy, that page, page and a half people are saying Kathy, we love your book, but don't mention that. That's too deep, too personal and she's like no, we need to be taught. Our children need to hear from us about these things. There's going to be things we can't control. Friends are going to say things and they're going to hear things. There's going to be things we can't control. Their friends are going to say things and they're going to hear things, but as many things as possible they need to hear from us, the parents, first, and that's our point, and Kathy's point with the book is we want to be the individuals sharing with our children.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

As uncomfortable as the conversation may be, I'd much rather have it or have my wife handle it than somebody that, although they may be in a good spot and they seem like a good person, I don't want them telling my daughter for the first time about certain things, and so the fact that people are asking Kathy well, don't include this. I think that's a shame. I think that it's a travesty and we're selling our children short if we're not willing to talk about the hard topics. That's just like us at Voices for Voices, we talk about, you know, the human trafficking and these topics that are hard to talk about and they're like I thought it was taboo and all these other terms, but we still cover them because they're so important. They're so important and that's why we're covering them.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

If any bullying is going on somebody's bullying, our children or our friends are seeing somebody being bullied, talk to teachers, escalate it. If a teacher's not doing anything, go to the principal. If the principal's not doing anything, go to the superintendent. If the superintendent's not doing anything, go to the police. If the police isn't doing anything, go to the FBI. If the FBI's not doing anything, go to the police. The police isn't doing anything, go to the FBI. Fbi is not doing anything, go to reach out to the president. Here's the thing If we don't ask, nothing's going to happen. So it's on us.

Voices for VoicesⓇ, Justin Alan Hayes:

If we want change, if we want somebody to listen and we realize with our show that we do actually have the White House, there are individuals that are aware and do listen to watch our show, and that's because I've made it a point With some of these issues and some of these things that we're talking about, to raise it to that level, because for certain things, certain people have let things go and haven't done their job, and so I want to make videos and our show. I want as many people to know about it, because people need to know. I don't want my child disappearing for weeks, going with somebody that they don't know. You don't want that to happen to your child. Nobody does, so we need to talk about these topics. So we're going to close out and say thank you for joining us on this episode. Please be a voice for you or somebody in need, and God bless you. The United States of America and everybody in the entire world, thank you for joining us.

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