Studies show that 4 out of every 5 students participate in some extracurricular activity outside of their required class load.  As fall approaches, family schedules inevitably fill up with these after-school practices, work obligations, parent teacher conferences and more.  Before heading out, take a step back to discuss your family's security routines and the measures everyone should take to keep their homes and each other safe throughout the year.

"Fall brings an abundance of schedule changes and families working to adapt to new routines," said Rebecca Smith, vice president, marketing for Master Lock.  "As calendars become full of different activities, Master Lock can help families with a variety of security measures to ensure they can safely maintain a busy lifestyle."

Master Lock offers these five key guidelines to help balance family safety with a busy schedule:

1. Embrace the key safe.  If your children will be coming home to an empty house after school, or you need to provide secure access to your home for the family dog walker, a key safe such as the 5400D will safely store your house key for easy entry, and eliminate the risk of family members or authorized visitors losing a copy of your key while in transit. Simply set your own easy-to-remember combination on a key safe, and have peace of mind that family members and authorized visitors can enter your home safely when needed.

2. Talk to your children about a "home alone" routine.  If your child gets home from school while you are still at work, or if your family is involved in a variety of activities on weekends, it's important to have guidelines for your children to follow when home alone, including locking the door immediately behind them after entering the house, not spending time outside without a parent home and not answering the door for any visitors.

3. Share schedules.  Be sure that your family is aware of each other's schedules including work, school and extracurricular activities. Keeping a calendar updated with everyone's activities in a common room such as the kitchen will prevent miscommunication about who will be home and when.

4. Lock up while on the go.  We carry valuables with us at all times. Encourage your children to store cash, jewelry, cell phones or other small valuables in a secure container such as the SafeSpace (5900D) or MiniSafe (5408D) when at sports practice or other after school and weekend activities. Parents should also secure similar valuables when watching their children's games, heading out for a Saturday morning walk at the local forest preserve or going for coffee on the weekends. These products safely hold your valuables and can also be secured to a fixed object, allowing you or your children to enjoy various activities carefree.

5. Stay safe in the digital space. Use secure passwords and store them well.  As your virtual world continues to grow, it's tempting to utilize one, easy-to-remember password for access to all of your important on-line accounts; however, this puts you at a greater risk for a security breach. Instead, create more secure passwords by varying the code for each of your accounts, and using a combination of letters and numbers in each of your passwords. Then, store all your confidential data including these user names and passwords in the Master Lock Vault. By remembering one user name and one password for your Vault, you will have 24/7 secure access to your confidential information through the website or smart phone app. With the highest level of on-line security available today, the Master Lock Vault ensures your important information is safe and secure, and available to you anytime, anywhere.

For more information about these on-the-go and other security solutions, please visit Master Lock's website at www.masterlock.com or the Master Lock Facebook page at www.facebook.com/masterlock. Visit www.masterlockvault.com to utilize the free, secure online data storage application and download a smart phone app for easy access on the go -- an ideal place to keep important bank account and other information.