I was chatting with a friend (a fellow mother) the other day and she mentioned how scary it is to let your children sleep over somewhere for the first time. Neither of us have children even close to being old enough for sleepovers but they are going to happen eventually.
Sleepovers are almost a rite of passage for kids but do we really know about the home they will sleep over in? Fears about abuse or molestation aside (because we all have them and worry incessantly about them), my friend mentioned guns. And this was something that had not occured to me.
What I also did not know is that 5,000 children die from gunshot wounds every year.
Questions to ask the family-
Do you have guns?
Where are they?
Where is the ammunition?
Where do you keep the keys?
The same can be said of hunting knives or other things families may have that you may not. We don't use guns, own guns or want guns. But many American families do.
Does anyone have guns? Are they safely put away? If you child sleeps over at another home, do you ask the home owners about any weapons in the house?