Every year the kids go back to school. There is no lack of buying new clothes or getting those school supplies. Of course those tasks are much more fun.
But how many of you are helping your kids prepare to go back to school with a focus on safety? Are you having conversations about stranger danger and how to handle emergency situations?
I am guessing no.
Below are some simple preparedness tips for helping your kids be safe on that back to school journey.
10 Back to School Safety & Preparedness Tips
1. Know Your Emergency Stash – Whether you have a pack in their locker or something they carry in with them everyday, you should have a small pack available to your child that includes things they might need in case there is an emergency while they are in school and away from you.
2. Know Your Password– be sure you have a family password that you share only with those you hold dearest in taking care of your children in case there is an emergency and there are mix-ups about who is responsible for your children.
3. Know Your Escape Plan – especially for your older kids, make sure they have a place to rendezvous so that they can be together and head home. Make plans with trusted friends or neighbors about picking up kids together and getting them home if you work away from home. It might also be good to teach the kids an alternative pick up spot at the school if there is an emergency, and you want to get them quickly.
4. Know Your Contact Numbers – whether your child is with another family on the way to school and are in a wreck, or separated on a field trip, or not with their teacher who has the class list, the possibility that your child is unable to tell emergency responders who he or she is can delay treatment or rescue.
5. Know Your School’s Emergency Plan – Ask the teacher and or school staff for a copy of their plan, find out what’s in the classroom for safety measures, and make sure the school has your phone numbers for contact. If you’re not happy with their emergency plan, help spearhead the PTA to make necessary changes.
6. Know Your Way Home – get with your child and have a map printout of the area from school to home. Trace the routes for your child to use in case their way home is not available. Show approved and not approved ways home. This way, they have knowledge of alternative routes, and you know how they’ll be traveling. This also would apply to bus routes that your children may be on – know those routes.
7. Know Your Friends – make sure that you teach your children who walk home who are their friends and who are not. Getting in cars with strangers is NEVER okay, nor is getting in cars of friends who don’t know your password – make sure your kids who are new to walking home know what is permitted. Walk with friends for safety.
8. Know When to Say No – do your children know how to tell their friends no? Before and after school are prime times for kid to get in trouble from peer pressure and not knowing how to handle themselves in situations. Practice with your kids on ways to say no.
9. Know Your Caches – I know of quite a few families who have chosen to hide or bury a small cache of emergency preparedness items along the route that their children travel from school to home. While they may not be able to have all the equipment they might need at school, they know there is a spot along the way home where they may be able to find a stash of supplies they would need.
10. Know to Protect Yourself – Whether from bullies, strangers, etc., your children should know some basic self-defense skills to help them out of rough situations.
Do you have a tip you would add to the list?
Scott was kind enough to offer some insights from how he prepared his son during those school years. Thanks Scott for this great description of your process!
“My son is 18 now, but when he was younger I made up one of those “Nalgene bottle” emergency kits for him to carry in one side pouch of his backpack. I became annoyed at the little crap that the school doesn’t allow due to ‘zero tolerance’. He couldn’t have a blade of any kind or a multitool with a blade.
So, I made up a paracord necklace with a flint arrowhead on it. That worked. It acted as both a blade and fire starter, since they wouldn’t allow a lighter, matches or ferro rod. Put in a steel striker and it worked for making sparks. I included a paracord bracelet, granola bars, meat sticks, GU gel, rolls of Life Savers, a first aid kit (less the meds like Tylenol….stupid zero tolerance policy again!), light sticks, small LED flashlight (put in a small piece of cardboard to keep the batteries from draining), a filter straw, emergency poncho, mylar blanket, gallon freezer baggie, cotton balls and a tube of petroleum jelly lip balm, and several single use heat packs, and a Storm whistle.
A set of emergency survival instruction cards, first aid CPR manual, and knot card finished out the kit. It was enough to keep him safe, warm, fed and hydrated if the school went into extended lockdown or there was an emergency like a tornado. He was a Scout, was taught first aid/CPR and had taken Karate, so I knew he had the skills to protect himself (and others) in an emergency, in addition to all the wilderness training I had given him while camping. His schools were never more than a mile away from home, but I knew that things can happen, and with today’s “Lockdown” policies, often parents are NOT allowed to come and pick up their kids in an emergency situation. (stupid policy, but obviously designed to thwart lawsuits).”