By DeJa Irving, Customer Service Representative, Tacoma Summer seemed to go on and on this year, but now it’s time to go back to school. It’s an exciting time for parents, students and teachers! Back to a normal schedule, back to a predictable routine. So predictable in fact, if someone watched your house for a few days they would know your schedule as well as you. Now that the house is empty all day, double check to make sure all of your sliding doors and windows are locked. Put all those tools away and lock up the shed. Make sure the kids, the sitter, and grandma all have a house key and know their code for your home security system to help prevent false alarms. And if you need a refresher course on arming or disarming give your customer service representative a call! If your kids are responsible for letting themselves in after school, be sure you reinforce safe behaviors and practice disarming your home security system. False alarms, even silent ones, can be scary and anxiety-inducing for kids and adults. The trade off, however, is well worth some initial stress. Make sure that you and your children are experts on the different modes of your alarm system: away, occupied-delay, and occupied-instant. The occupied-delay mode can be a great asset for families with kids home after school, especially here in Tacoma where rainy autumns keep kids indoors. After coming home from school and disarming the system from away mode, kids can re-arm the system (often with the touch of just one button) to occupied-delay mode, which means that the perimeter of the house is secured but that you have a small amount of time to come in through the regular door without setting off the alarm. If the keypad is not reset in 30-60 seconds (each system is programmed to your specifications), the Verification Center will be notified. The occupied-delay mode means that you know your kids are protected inside but there is more leeway for coming in and out and you can enter your home easily without causing an alarm. If you want to practice arming and disarming, please call the Verification Center at 1.855.856.8374 and let them you know you would like to into test mode. When you and your family are completely confident in your security system skills, call back to be put online.