For parents, their top priority is keeping their kids safe. While you might have almost complete control over your kids’ health and safety at your own home, once they head out the door for school, it will be hours before they’re back under your roof and with you again.
Because of this reality of life, it’s important that you do everything in your power to teach your kids how to keep themselves safe when you can’t be there to watch out for them. To show you how this can be done, here are three things to teach your kids that will help to keep them safer when at school.
Teach Them How To Keep From Getting Hurt
One of the most obvious ways that your children need to stay safe at school is to be physically safe when playing.
At most schools, there’s playground equipment available for the children to play with when outside. And according to the National Safety Council, 80 percent of playground injuries happen due to falls off of playground equipment. To keep this from happening to your kids, make sure the equipment at your school is up to safety standards. And in addition to this, teach your kids to be safe when playing on playground equipment that might be too advanced for them.
Try To Keep Your Child Anonymous
While most parents want their children to get the attention they need while at school, what they don’t want is for their kids to get any unwanted attention from those who should be leaving their children alone.
To help ensure that no adults are able to get too close to your children in an unsafe way, Sarah Parisi, a contributor to the Huffington Post, advises against getting your kids clothes, hats, backpacks or other accessories that have their name on them. If an adult approaches your child already knowing their name or other personal information they could glean from their clothes or school supplies, your child might get confused as to whether this adult is someone they should know and trust.
Reiterate Rules and Procedures
In both your home and your child’s school, there are likely set rules and procedures that your kids are taught to follow in the event of emergencies. While having these plans in place is a great step in the right direction, it’s up to you to ensure that your children will remember these plans if and when they need to be executed.
According to OneToughJob.org, children should be explicitly taught these rules and procedures at least five to ten times each school year in order for the information to take hold within them. So if this isn’t currently happening, try to set in your calendar when to reiterate some rules or procedures you think your children should know in case of emergencies.
If you want to increase the chances of your child staying safe while at school, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you learn how you can accomplish this.
