Kids Returning to School — Some Good Advice

The insurance industry is about people. We — agents and companies — interact with people from all walks of life. Young people, older people, and those of middle-age.

The people we are talking about today are those precious young kids and teens returning to school for another year of reading, writing and arithmetic. Some of you possess some of them.

Others of you are grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.

As we all know, school years are now quite different than they’ve been in the past. For parents, it’s the worry of violence and death in schools, and how scary it is getting kids to and from schools and other education facilities.

We all know the horror stories of gun violence in schools so they don’t need repeated.

What does need to be repeated is the need to keep kids safe, and to inform children about how to protect themselves when in dangerous situations from classroom violence to how to be careful getting to school, has never been more important.

Here’s some advice for your back-to-school kids from the National Safety Council:

Tips for protecting kids from school emergencies courtesy of Save the Children (savethechildren.org):

1. Talk to your children about school violence. Don’t lie to your children, focus on safety and helping them recognize the plans that are in place to protect them from all kinds of emergency situations.

2. Teach your kids how to respond to appropriately to an emergency. Those responses include how to find and get to a safe place, how to exit the building when possible, and how to hide out if necessary.

Safety tips for bus riders:

1. Parents should go to the bus stop with their children and teach them how to safely get on and off the bus.

2. Tell them to stand at least six-feet from the curb. That’s three giant steps.

3. If your child has to cross the street to get on the bus, make sure they cross 10-feet in front of the bus so both the child and the driver can see each other.

Safety tips for bike riders:

1. Practice riding the bike route with your child.

2. Tell them to ride on the right side of the road and, if in a group, ride in single file

3. Tell them to stop completely before crossing a street. Even better, tell them to get off the bike and walk it across the street.

4. Tell children to not talk or get distracted while riding to school. Focus on riding.

5. Make sure you child has the proper safety equipment like helmets and that they have bright clothing on while riding.

Safety for walking to school:

1. Tell children to walk on the sidewalk at all times. If there isn’t one, then walk facing traffic.

2. Look left, then right, then left again when crossing a street.

3. Make eye contact with drivers before crossing.

4. Always cross at crosswalks or intersections.

Avoid people who are potentially dangerous from safety4kids.com:

1. Teach your child the difference between a good stranger — someone who’s helpful like a police officer in uniform — and a bad stranger like someone who will grab them and try to force them into a vehicle.

2. Tell them to NEVER accept treats or gifts from a stranger without your permission.

3. Tell them to quickly walk away from, or run away from, a stranger approaching them. If that stranger follows them, tell them something is not right.

4. Tell them to kick and scream if a stranger grabs them, or tries to grab them, and that it is okay to bite them to get free.

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