Safety Topics for September

Stranger Danger

• For the many children who walk to and from school each day, stranger abduction is a potential threat. We've all read stories of strangers luring young children into their cars. Many parents shudder when official notices from their school districts come home in their children's backpacks, warning them of a possible stranger-danger event in their neighborhood.

  Parents' best move is to drill their children on the steps they should take if they are approached by a stranger. First, children should know that they should never enter a car not driven by a parent or sibling. Secondly, parents need to teach their children to run from strangers while shouting loudly. This will cause most perpetrators to flee the scene. Finally, parents should teach their children that if a stranger approaches them, they should seek out the nearest crossing guard, teacher or neighborhood parent they know.

Traffic Safety

• Parents need to teach their children the basics of crossing the street safely, especially when their children are walking to school on their own for the first time. It's important, too, for them to instruct their children to carefully listen to their school crossing guards. They also need to teach them to look both ways when crossing unmonitored corners.

Bicycle Safety

• Each September, many children ride their bicycles to school for the first time. Children should know the basics of bicycle safety such as riding with, not against, traffic. They should know to ride on the sides of streets, not in the sidewalk where they could injure other children or their parents. Parents should also make sure their children know to follow all stop signs and other traffic signals and, of course, to stop at every street corner, make sure no traffic is coming and then proceed quickly, but safely, across the street.