The start of the new academic year can be challenging for both parents and children.
With schools reopening next week (15 January) Charnel Hattingh, Group Head of Communications and Marketing at the Fidelity Services Group, shares some safety tips to ensure parents can have peace of mind as they navigate the start of a new year.
“Parents and caregivers are most certainly worried about their children’s safely making it to school and back. There are thankfully personal security tips we believe parents can follow to make a difference in the safety of their children.”
- Never get into a stranger’s car even if they claim someone you love is hurt and that they are supposed to pick you up. It is a good idea to consider using a password system to ensure the person collecting you is in fact a friend of your parents or someone you can trust.
- Children must always walk to or from school with a friend or friends. If your child walks alone, it’s a good idea to ask a teacher or other parents if they know of other children from the area who do the same. Some areas have started “walking buses”, where local parents volunteer to walk to and from school with a group of schoolchildren to assure their safety.
- Stick to streets you know and never take short-cuts through unfamiliar or quiet areas.
- If you get picked up at school, always wait inside the grounds for your lift to arrive; do not leave the premises to go and look for them in the street.
- If a stranger approaches you, do not talk to them no matter how friendly they may seem. If someone tries to grab you, fight, kick and scream that they are not your mom or dad.
Leaving you child alone
In some cases children will have to see themselves to and from school and keep occupied until their parents return home in the evening.
Hattingh says: “It is important that children know not to let anyone into the house without your permission. If you are going to be late, let your children know as soon as possible and give them an idea of when they can expect you to be home.”
She suggested drawing up a list of important telephone numbers. “This list must include emergency services and mom and dad’s work and cellphone numbers. Save it on your child’s phone and stick it on or near the landline.”
Hattingh added that everyone in the household should also know how to use the home security system, children included, and when and how to use the panic buttons.
