Fortunately, with proper education and procedures, most of these accidents can easily be avoided. In an effort to keep your kids as safe as possible this school year, here are some valuable safety tips provided by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Safe Kids Campaign.
Traveling to and from School
- If your child is walking to school, plan the safest and most direct route. If possible, try to choose a route with the fewest street crossings.
- Walk the route a couple of times with your child before the first day of school.
- Of course, educate your child on the dangers of talking or accepting gifts from strangers.
- If your child is walking to school, try to have him or her accompanied by a friend, sibling or neighbor.
- When driving your kids to school, try to drop them off and pick them up as close to the main entrance as possible. As an added precaution, don’t leave until they reach the schoolyard or enter the building.
- If your child rides a bike to school, make sure that they wear a helmet.
- If taking the bus, teach your child to stay out of the street and wait for the bus to stop completely before approaching the street.
- When on the bus, remind your child to keep his arms and head inside the bus. When exiting the bus, your child should wait for the bus to come to a complete stop before standing up, exit the bus at the front and cross the street more than 10 feet from the front of the bus.
- Finally, make sure your child knows his or her home address and phone number, your work number and how to call 911 in case of an emergency.
- The majority of the two million school-related accidents that occur each year take place on the playground. Therefore, before the start of the school year, you should check the playground equipment and ensure that there is no broken equipment and the surface surrounding the equipment cannot be hazardous.
- It may be cold in the winter and hoodies may be popular at the moment, but you should try to avoid clothing your child in sweatshirts or jackets that have drawstrings around the neck. Also, to avoid getting tangled in playground equipment, drawstrings hanging at the bottom of jackets should be no longer than three inches long.
- Teach your child the safe way to behave on the playground, which includes not crowding, pushing and shoving their fellow classmates.