THE DIFFERENCE SUM COVERAGE MAKES A Tale of Two Clients
Home Alone — Is Your Child Ready? Consider These Details First
Deciding if your child is ready to stay home alone is an important milestone every parent will face. It’s natural for a parent to worry when leaving their kids unsupervised. Although this concern will never fade away completely, you can prepare yourself and your children for this day with some planning. IMPORTANT THINGS YOU SHOULD CONSIDER: • Child’s Age: Do you believe your child is mature enough to stay home alone? Will they be able to care for themselves and their younger siblings? Can they respond to an emergency? There isn’t a set age when children are ready to be home by themselves. It depends on your judgment and whether you’ve seen signs your child is prepared for that responsibility. • How Long You’ll Be Gone: Will you be out of the house for a couple of hours or all day? For the first few times that you leave your child alone, you only want to be gone for a relatively brief period of time. Feel out how long that might be. This will help you see if they are ready to take on this responsibility and how they feel about being alone. • Safety Awareness: Would your child remember and follow the safety rules? Can they make good judgment calls on their own? Do they have common sense? Establish clear ground rules to keep them safe and trust they will follow those rules. So, you’ve asked your child if they feel comfortable being home alone, and they say yes. Here’s what you can do to prepare your child for this new experience and responsibility. • Leave Emergency Contacts: Write down your and your spouse’s cell and work numbers in case your child needs to contact either of you. You can also list out other relatives they can contact if needed. Keep this list in a place where it’s easily accessible such as the refrigerator. • Plan for “What if” Scenarios: Inform your child about what to do if there is a fire, storm, medical issue, or a stranger comes to the door. Make sure they understand the solutions and can follow them without question. Also, leave an emergency first-aid kit with them. Don’t worry; their experience won’t be like Kevin McCallister’s in the famous Christmas comedy “Home Alone.” By communicating with your adolescent and preparing properly, they are one step closer to fulfilling new responsibilities and taking the first step into adulthood.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times …” –Charles Dickens, “A Tale of Two Cities.”
“I wish I had better insurance coverage.”
“I’m so glad I had adequate insurance coverage.”
Those two statements reflect the regret and the relief expressed by two different accident injury victims. Ever since Dickens’ classic novel was assigned to my Glen Cove High School English class, the powerful opening line impressed me because it arguably describes every time in human history. In helping accident injury victims rebuild their lives over the years, I have also been struck by how that best/worst phrase can apply to the aftermath of a serious or catastrophic injury, depending upon a person’s insurance coverage. Many people have never heard the acronym “SUM” applied to automobile insurance. SUM stands for Supplementary Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverage. SUM offers covered persons protection from situations where they were injured in a car accident, and the at-fault party was either unidentified (as in a hit-and-run accident where the license plate information was not obtained) or was driving without insurance coverage. It also protects against situations where the damages created by the at-fault driver’s negligence exceed their insurance policy. Purchasing additional SUM coverage, which may be relatively inexpensive, can provide a source of recovery for yourself and your family members. We have seen many cases where an injured client with SUM coverage made an appropriate recovery. Tragically, we’ve also seen cases where an injured client could not win the compensation they deserved because they didn’t have the necessary insurance protection.
Please speak with your insurance carrier or broker about the cost of raising your SUM coverage, and always maintain it at the highest level you feel
comfortable with. It may be impossible to think of a post- accident period as “the best of times,” but hopefully, with ample SUM coverage, you will be spared “the worst of times” with a source for the recovery you need and deserve.
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