How to Talk to Your Children About School Safety

Back to school can be an exciting time of year. However, like talking to your children about crossing the street safely and looking both ways, safety both inside and outside the school is equally important. Parents need to talk to their children about safety issues and active threats that can take place both inside and outside of the school. Conversations like these are best had during early childhood development.?

While these conversations may be difficult, discussing safety issues and procedures are most important in early childhood development. Talking to your children about school safety issues can be critical in recognizing and preventing injury and acts of violence that can take place in?and around?schools. Here are some discussions to have with your children regarding safety in school:

?1.?????Review school safety procedures and safety plans.?Sit down with your children and talk about the different kinds of emergencies and review the school’s emergency plan. Talk about what to do in case of an emergency?and where to go. For example, children should know to silence their phone in the event of an active threat.

?2.?????Review safety terminology.?Make sure children understand basic and important safety terminology and what to do if those emergencies occur ie. lockdowns and secure the building.?This is important as the schools will be working with law enforcement and using the same terminology.

?3.?????Talk about safety on electronics.?Go online with your children, role-model safe internet use and talk to your children about online behaviour.

?4.?????Discuss the basics of situational awareness.?Communicate with your children the importance of being aware of what is happening around them in terms of where they are, where they are supposed to be and whether anything or anyone around them is a threat to their health and safety.

?5.?????Emphasize the importance of listening to teachers about classroom safety.?Listening to teachers is key to a safe classroom. Children must follow the direction of their teachers and take safety measures seriously.

These tips are not meant to make people paranoid but to help teach people to be safe in a rapidly changing environment. Have the difficult conversations now and help instill confidence in our youth to live full and happy lives.

?“Children reflect the innocence in society.?Society is changing and tragedy can happen anywhere as seen in the news around the world.?Parents have taken the time to teach their children safety in their communities (look both ways before you cross the street) and this stays with people for their lifetime and is passed down through generations.”

– Trevor Ewart, Senior Investigator