It\u2019s back-to-school season, and kids across the country are heading out the door with their backpacks. Some of them are making the trip alone for the first time.
We all know it\u2019s good for them to get a little exercise during their commute, and there\u2019s even evidence that walking or biking to school is correlated with kids\u2019 confidence in their academic abilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But what about safety? As a parent, it\u2019s hard not to worry when watching your child take off down the street by themselves. At the same time, we want to encourage our kids\u2019 independence. We won\u2019t be walking them to their college classes, after all. It\u2019s back-to-school season, and kids across the country are heading out the door with their backpacks. Some of them are making the trip alone for the first time.We all know it\u2019s good for them to get a little exercise during their commute, and there\u2019s even evidence that walking or biking to school is correlated with kids\u2019 confidence in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":17125,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1154],"tags":[9040,2176,21918,21919],"class_list":["post-17124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-alone","tag-child","tag-going-to-school","tag-walking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17124"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17126,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17124\/revisions\/17126"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
So how can a parent know when a child is ready to make their way to (or from) school by themselves? And what safety lessons should we be sure to impart before they do?
We spoke with several child safety experts about the best way for parents to approach this milestone.
Know your child.
There is no one age at which all children become capable of walking themselves to school. There are too many factors involved: Will they be with an older sibling or neighbor? How far away is the school? How many streets do they have to cross?
You also need to consider your child as an individual. How mature are they? How anxious?
\u201cI always tell parents there is no one-size-fits-all right age. I do think, however, that kids under the age of 10 should not be walking to school on their own or even with another 8- or a 9-year-old,\u201d Pattie Fitzgerald, a child safety expert and founder of\u00a0safelyeverafter.com, told HuffPost.
\u201cThey know how to get there, but they don\u2019t have the executive function to make a snap judgment as quickly,\u201d she added.
Physical size matters, too. A driver is more likely to see taller bodies and miss shorter ones.
Don\u2019t have their name visible on the outside of their backpack or other items.
It\u2019s extremely unlikely that your child will be approached by an unknown person with ill intentions while walking to or from school.
\u201cIn 2021, 27,733 missing children were reported to NCMEC and only 142 of these were reports of children who were abducted by someone who was not a family member,\u201d Susan Kennedy of the\u00a0National Center for Missing & Exploited Children\u00a0told\u00a0VeryWell Family\u00a0a few months ago. \u201cThese types of cases represent less than 1% of cases reported to NCMEC.\u201d
Nevertheless, it\u2019s probably a good idea not to have your child\u2019s first name visible on their backpack, lunchbox or other items they carry with them.
\u201cThat could actually give a stranger the chance to use your child\u2019s name and pretend to know them,\u201d\u00a0Debra Holtzman, a child safety expert, told HuffPost.
Though you do want to have your child\u2019s name on their belongings in order to increase the odds of them being returned when lost, Holtzman suggested labeling them on the inside instead.
You can also use their initials, a symbol or stickers to mark the outside of such items, in order to easily differentiate them from those of classmates or siblings. Land\u2019s End, a retailer that sells children\u2019s backpacks, offers custom monogramming, saying on their\u00a0website, \u201cYou can have your backpacks personalized with your kid\u2019s favorite logo, initials or cartoon character.\u201d
Explain that safe adults don\u2019t ask kids for help.
In lieu of \u201cstranger danger,\u201d one helpful thing that kids can remember is \u201c\u2018Safe grown-ups don\u2019t ask kids for help,\u2019\u201d Fitzgerald said.
Predators often use a request for assistance, such as carrying packages or finding a lost pet, to draw a victim in.
You can simply explain to your kids that safe grown-ups ask other grown-ups for help, not children. If a person does this, she suggested that kids use the phrase \u201cnot allowed,\u201d as in, \u201cI\u2019m not allowed to do that.\u201d This works because it is easy to remember, short and can simply be repeated if the person\u2019s requests continue.
Teach basic street smarts without instilling fear.
Though you may have grown up during the era of \u201cstranger danger\u201d warnings, this teaching has fallen out of favor over the years. The worldview that this kind of thinking can encourage is that every adult your child doesn\u2019t know is a potential threat, and this doesn\u2019t reflect reality. A belief like this can cause a lot of anxiety and worry for kids.
The truth is that when a child is harmed, it is usually by a family member or another person that they know. Telling them not to trust strangers won\u2019t protect them in these situations. It also won\u2019t help them in situations when it is appropriate to approach someone they don\u2019t know, like a store clerk or librarian, for help.
\u201cRemember, you\u2019re not trying to frighten them; you\u2019re aiming to give them knowledge and confidence,\u201d Holtzman said. \u201cUsing role-playing is a great method to show kids how to deal with tough situations.\u201d
The goal is for kids to feel able to advocate for themselves and get out of an uncomfortable situation. They should not feel pressured to comply with another person\u2019s requests for the sake of being polite, whether or not that person is a stranger.
\u201cInstruct children to ignore drivers or individuals who try to engage them in conversation and to not go into someone\u2019s car or house unless it has been previously arranged by parents. If feeling uneasy or scared, instruct children to approach a mom or dad with kids of their own and say, \u2018I do not feel safe,\u2019\u201d Rosemary Webb, co-president of\u00a0Child Lures Prevention, told HuffPost.
In addition, Fitzgerald said that some parents give their children a list of safe adults who are allowed, for example, to pick them up from school, so that they know not to get in anyone else\u2019s car unless a plan has been made in advance.
Others designate an \u201cultimate safe stop,\u201d which could be a store or friend\u2019s home on the route to school, where a child can go if they are feeling unsafe for any reason.
Like all important conversations with kids, personal safety isn\u2019t a topic that you\u2019ll cover in one sitting.
\u201cChild personal safety is an ongoing conversation that ideally begins when your child is very young, even pre-verbal. This keeps safety tips fresh in mind and parent-child communication open. When safety tips are incorporated into normal conversations, it is less likely to cause undue anxiety. Children learn through repetition, and reminders are always a good idea,\u201d Webb said.
Keep your tone free of fear, and remind kids that the people they need to stay away from are few in number. \u201cAssure children that most people are kind and safe and can be counted on to help kids,\u201d Webb said.
Stress the importance of being attentive to their surroundings.
You\u2019ll see kids and teens (and adults, too) walking hunched over their phones, earbuds in, absorbed in the sounds and images of that tiny screen. This isn\u2019t a safe way to travel from one place to the next.
\u201cEmphasize to your children the importance of staying alert while walking\/biking,\u201d Holtzman said.
First, if they\u2019re not looking where they\u2019re going, they\u2019re more likely to get hurt by tripping over or running into something. Second, they\u2019re less likely to hear or otherwise notice an approaching car.
\u201cIf they\u2019re listening to music, not both ears,\u201d Fitzgerald said. They should remove one ear bud so that they can hear what\u2019s going on around them.
Finally, being engrossed in their phones makes them an easier target for anyone who might do them harm.
\u201cThis is even for adults,\u201d Fitzgerald explained. You\u2019re safer, she said, when \u201cyou\u2019re walking around with purpose in your step and your eyes are looking around.\u201d
Plan and practice.
One of the best ways for kids to learn a new skill is to do it with you.
\u201cMap out the safest route to school, and walk it with your child at least once. Tell your child to avoid shortcuts and follow all pedestrian and road safety rules,\u201d Webb said.
Practice using crosswalks, where cars will be more likely to see them than if they cut across in the middle of the street.
If your child has a phone, use available technology.
Once you\u2019ve decided that your child is ready for a phone, you can use location sharing to track where they are.
You should also \u201cteach your child how to dial 911 should they feel threatened in any way,\u201d Webb advised.
She added that \u201cthere are many free apps to help ensure your child\u2019s safety while walking to and from school or the bus stop, including\u00a0Life360\u00a0\u2026 and\u00a0Google\u2019s Family Link.\u201d
Fitzgerald suggested setting up an emergency code word or an emergency code emoji, something kids can text their parents quickly to let them know they need to be picked up or called back right away
\u201cThis comes in handy when they\u2019re teenagers at parties, but it also comes in handy when they\u2019re walking to school and somebody is making them uncomfortable,\u201d she said.
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