Back-to-School Safety Tips By Jerry A. Chenault, Urban Regional Extension Agent, Lawrence County

With all the talk about safety at schools these days you would think that violence would be the main cause of concern for parents of school-age children. However, the truth is that school-age kids are nine times more likely to sustain an unintentional injury on the playground or in school than to become a victim of violence. What can you do to make sure your child isn't counted among the 2.2 million children that are injured at school each year?

To keep your child safe, the National SAFE KID Campaign, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the American Academy of Pediatrics offer these safety tips.

Traveling to and from School

• Plan a walking route with your child to get them to and from school and/or the bus stop safely. Be especially mindful of intersections.
• Teach your children to avoid and to identify strangers. Be specific about who is considered to be a stranger.
• Make sure your child does not walk to school alone.
• Make sure your child knows how to obey traffic laws and crossing guards whether they are walking or riding a bike.
• Use a helmet to protect your child's head if they ride a bike to school. No one ever said that bicycle helmets look "cool," but they can save your child's life.
• Teach your child to wait for the bus to fully stop before they enter the road. Also, teach them about a driver's blind spot.
• Tell your child not to bend down in front of the bus to tie shoes or to pick up objects because the driver may not see them and start to move.
• Help your child to memorize your home phone number and address. They also need to know how to dial 9-1-1 for help. Role-play calling 911.

On the Playground

• Check the playground at school for broken, rusted, or dangerous items such as missing bolts, glass, or loose boards. Inform the school if necessary. Also, make sure there is a thick layer of a soft playing surface covering the ground like sand, bark mulch, ground-up rubber pieces, or pea gravel for protection from falls. More than 200,000 kids are injured on playgrounds and treated at emergency rooms as a result of falls.
• Keep drawstrings on jacket hoods and sweatshirts short to avoid getting them caught in playground equipment.
• Make sure equipment like soccer goals are anchored down to avoid tripping a child.
• Teach your child not to push or crowd others since this behavior causes accidents.

Other Safety Tips

• Make sure your child's backpack is not too heavy.
• Check window blind cords at home and at school to avoid child entanglement. Install a permanent tie-down mechanism on vertical blinds, continuous loop systems, or drapery cords rather than cutting looped cords.
• Watch for signs of bullying at school. Experts say that 1 in 2 children will be bullied at school or on the way home. More than 160,000 children miss school every day due to fear of physical harm. Also, be sure to help your child develops bully-coping strategies. Try to instill confidence in your child because confident children are less likely to be a bully target.

Warrior Personal Safety, Incorporated. (2009, August 10). Warrior personal safety: Back to school family safety. Warrior Newsletter, 1(2).

Many, C. (2009, August 11). Back-to-school safety tips. Reader's Digest.com. Retrieved October 2, 2009.

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