Of course, we all want to live in a safe, secure neighborhood, but when we’re parents that can become an even more important priority.
Safety starts with our own choices and behaviors, and the example we choose to set. For example, just backing out of your driveway carefully and driving slowly on the streets of your neighborhood is a good place to start.
Beyond that, there are other things you can do and efforts you can put into place to create a safe and happy neighborhood environment for your own family and everyone else.
Start a Neighborhood Newsletter
A neighborhood newsletter is such a valuable way to make your community safer. You can share concerns that you may have and ask other neighbors to do the same. With a neighborhood newsletter, whether printed or digital, everyone can stay in the loop about possible risks in the neighborhood.
It also helps neighbors feel connected with one another, and strong communication is a key part of having a safe community.
You can also create a blog or social media page for your neighborhood. With social media pages, the benefit is that messages can be conveyed quickly and easily.
Nextdoor can be a great resource to use if you want a safe neighborhood, so leverage it. Nextdoor is a neighborhood social network, and it verifies that the people who join the network actually live in your neighborhood.
Nextdoor can be used as a way to warn neighbors about something going on, and you can also share your thoughts as to the appropriate ways to behave, drive, and engage in the neighborhood.
Get Out and About
Too often in our modern, technology-driven world, we don’t get out and get to know our neighbors on a personal level. When you don’t know your neighbors, it’s more challenging to hear about concerns people may have, or know when something is off or out-of-the-ordinary.
In a safe, secure neighborhood, neighbors watch out for one another, but you can’t make that happen if you don’t know the people who live around you.
You could be the person who spearheads efforts to get more neighborhood involvement happening.
Host events such as a block party or barbecue so that people will come out and talk to each other.
Post Safety Signs
If your neighborhood has children, you should work to encourage people to drive safely. One way to do this is by posting bright signs that let people know children are playing.
What’s good about these signs is that it not only serves as a warning to drivers, but it can also serve as a marker that lets your kids know where they shouldn’t go past when they’re playing.
Start a Neighborhood Watch Program
If you have a group of neighbors that you think are especially interested in safety and security, get them together so that you can form a neighborhood watch program.
Then, assign members of the group with specific tasks. For example, maybe one neighbor who is home during the day keeps an eye on the kids in the neighborhood getting off the school bus, and another person might look for suspicious activity around parked cars.
You can have monthly meetings, and it’s always a good idea to contact your local police office because there are often local guidelines your community watch program will need to follow.
Other tips to keep in mind when it comes to forming a neighborhood watch include:
- Go door to door and recruit members of the neighborhood and also let people know how the program will work.
- Create a plan of action for the group itself and also how you’ll handle certain situations that you may face.
- Arrange a meeting between neighborhood watch representatives and local police.
Keep Your Home Well-Maintained
When you have a yard and a home that looked well-maintained, it’s going to discourage criminal activity. It shows people that your neighborhood is active, and that’s a deterrent. It also reduces the possible hiding places for criminals.
You want clear sightlines to your home’s entryways and you always want your trees and bushes to be trimmed.
If there’s an empty house on your street, get together with neighbors to make sure it looks kept-up as well. Finally, there are things you can do to help your neighborhood be safer, but ultimately there’s only so much you can do as a group effort. Work on making sure your home is as secure as possible, and that will go a long way too.
These are great tips! A neighborhood watch program is so helpful when it comes to deterring crime.
Great tips! We’re rural, but we look out for our neighbours, too. If we know they’re going away for the weekend or longer, we take turns driving by, and making sure everything is okay. We are always “aware” of what’s going on, what vehicles don’t belong, etc.
I really wish this was going on in my area. We really need it..
Yes, our neighborhood stays on the alert, looking out for one another.
Thank you for these tips
These are terrific suggestions, thx very much! We moved into this neighbourhood a year & a half ago so currently only know our immediate neighbours.
We also have a website for our neighborhood. Neighbors post everything on here from crimes in the neighborhood to lost pets. It’s a great way to see what’s going on.
Great tips to be safer. We moved to an area that is a little iffy, but since we’ve gotten our Ring we have a bit more peace of mind.
We all need to look out for each other.
These are some great tips. We also installed cameras right before Halloween.
Definitely agree with well-kept houses and keeping an eye on the comings and goings of immediate neighbors. This helps deter criminal activity, which happened across the street on a foreclosed house. My suggestion is to keep an eye on those houses because those tend to get windows broken into.
These are excellent tips that I pinned on Pinterest, shared on Twitter, & my Facebook page. Communication is one of the keys to staying informed! Plus using Social Media are great tools. I already have the app Nextdoor on my iPhone. So I can check what is going on before I get home from going out. I have met neighbors that I would have never met otherwise. We want to keep our children safe besides our homes. Lost pets have been found using Nextdoor also. We also use it for garage sales, to inform each other of neighborhood events, for references to find a neighborhood company that does good work, and for rides to places! I wished this app would have been around a long time ago!! Safety tips are neede more than ever! Thank you for sharing!
These are excellent safety tips! I love the idea of a neighborhood newsletter or social media page. Nextdoor sounds really helpful. I’ll have to check it out. Thanks!
Great tips Will pass onto my daughter but we live in rural america and my neighbor is the local cemetery
I love all the tips! My favorite tip is starting a neighborhood watch!
We try to get out and walk or bike around the neighbourhood in better weather to meet the neighbours.
These are great tips. Its important that you feel safe in your neighborhood.
Good to know as the safety level of our street has really declined in the recent decade.. Been a target of many break ins.
Im from Queens, its hard to make anywhere around here safe..drugs are unfortunately rampant here
Very good tips. We need to do as much as we can.
Good tips! We have a neighborhood Facebook group for communication which has been really effective as well.
I really enjoyed reading this article. We haved lived in our neighborhood for over 10 years and are friendly with neighbors, have a social media neighborhood site to communicate but I love the idea of starting a neighborhood watch program.
I really love the idea of a neighborhood newsletter. I am going to start one tomorrow.
Im glad someone created an app that helps neighbors get to know each other and share for all your reasons
We have some great neighbours and some not so great but we have made attempts to get to know them all! It is nice to be able to say hi and chat when we are out walking, and for our kids to know some other people on our street.
I want to start a neighborhood watch. Has anyone else successfully started one and gotten people to do their part?
These are great ideas!
These are great tips. We don’t live in an area like this but we did install cameras last Spring.