School is well under way now. Here are some safety tips for parents of school children:
- If your child lets himself into the house after school and has some time alone before you come home, make it an established routine to have your child call or text you at a set time each day to let you know they have made it home safely.
- Make sure you are familiar with your child’s school’s emergency policies (what happens in the event of an emergency, lock-down, earthquake, evacuation, etc.) AND make sure your child has his emergency contact information memorized (his home phone number and address, the best number where you can be reached during the day, etc.).
- If your child walks to school, see if you can have them walk with a group of children. If you live in an isolated area, try to find at least one other child who lives in your area and is around the same age as your schoolchild so they have at least one other person walking with them to school.
- Walking is much safer than running, especially on streets with traffic. Teach your child to always walk against the flow of traffic so oncoming cars can see them, and teach them to always look both ways before crossing the street and to try to cross at an intersection or street corner whenever possible.
- If your child rides the bus to school, teach them to make sure the bus driver can see them at all times so they are not accidentally run over crossing in front of the bus or loitering near the bus after it has dropped them off.
- Consider getting your child a preprogrammed cell phone, allowing them to reach you in any emergency and allowing you to reach them anytime as well. There are several models of mobile phones on the market that are designed to only allow calls to a set number of preprogrammed contacts, who the parent can choose.
Have fun and get good grades!
