What Parents Can Do to Keep Their Schoolchildren Safe
Parents: Next month, many children will be returning to school. You can ensure that it is a safe experience for them by making sure they know basic safety rules for walking to school, taking the school bus and avoiding the use of drugs and contact with children with weapons. The safety precaution steps you talk about with your children will naturally depend on their age. While your aim is to help them avoid danger, you certainly don’t want to overemphasize any dangers they might face, as doing so could actually make them afraid of going to school.
Safety Tips for Walking to School
Parents or other adults simply need to walk young children in the early grades to school. Most children under the age of 8 cannot be trusted to be cautious around traffic. It is helpful to have a group of adult neighbors form a walking group. The adults need to follow all traffic safety laws and teach about traffic signs and signals and how to cross a street, so the children will absorb the correct behaviors.
Around the age of 10, most children are ready to walk to school without adult supervision. You should review the following precautions about walking to school without adults, whether the children are first-timers or have been doing it for several years:
- It is best for all children, no matter their ages, to walk to school with at least one other child.
- Make sure they know the safe route to schools that have crossing guards at intersections and will avoid taking any shortcuts. It is smart to practice this safe route with them several times before they tackle it alone.
- Very importantly, impress upon them the need to say no to anyone offering a ride or asking for directions. And if necessary, they should yell and run for help.
- As an added precaution, have students wear brightly colored clothing and backpacks when it is dark in the morning or afternoon.
School Bus Safety Tips
School buses are among the safest modes of transportation. The time when children are at risk is when approaching or leaving a school bus. When a large group of children or younger children are at a bus stop, it is wise for an adult to be present to avoid dangerous behaviors like pushing or shoving to line up for the bus or other high jinks. No matter their age, make sure your children understand these precautions to keep them safe:
- Before the school year starts, show younger children where they should stand to wait for the bus. They should be at least 6 feet (three giant steps) away from the curb until the bus has stopped and the door opened.
- Arrive at the bus stop five minutes before the bus is scheduled to arrive.
- Never walk behind a school bus.
- If it is necessary to cross the street in front of the bus, children should be at least 10 feet (five giant steps) in front of the bus. And they need to make sure the bus driver can see them. Bus drivers may walk younger children across the street.
- Emphasize they must never try to pick up an object that they have dropped by the bus. Instead, they must tell the bus driver.
Educating Your Children About Avoiding Drugs at School
Unfortunately, in this day and age, some children may be bringing drugs to your children’s school as early as the elementary years and trying to entice them to take drugs. Before they start school and in an age-appropriate way, talk to them about why drugs are bad. And it is very important that children of all ages know how to turn down drugs that may be offered to them. Teach them that just saying no is a good answer. Also, make sure they know not to consume unfamiliar items.
Children, especially younger ones, need to know that inhaling substances is another form of drug abuse. Because inhalants are common products, like cooking spray, aerosol whipping cream, felt tip markers, glues and rubber cement, they are easy to obtain. You need to stress how dangerous inhalants can be—sometimes killing individuals the first time they are used. Again, other children may try to entice your children into using them by telling them they are safe.
Handling the Seeing of Weapons at School
Some students may bring a gun, knife or other weapons to school for attention, protection or harming others. The fact that this issue even has to be address is distressing, but parents have to have a discussion with their children about how to handle a situation in which a student has one of these objects. Here is an approach to telling your children what to do if they see or are told about a weapon.
1. They need to get away from that person quickly and non-confrontationally.
2. They need to tell a teacher, coach or administrator immediately what they have seen or been told. If no adult is available, they need to call 911. Students need not be afraid of telling about what they have heard or seen because schools will be able to handle the situation without revealing their names. Most schools will also have told their students about the way to handle this situation.
Parents should send questions and comments to firstname.lastname@example.org and visit the DearTeacher.com website to learn more about helping their children succeed in school. ©Compass Syndicate Corporation, 2023
As always, please consult your healthcare provider with any questions or concerns.