Back To School Safety: Part 2

Its offi­cial.  The kids have returned to school.  As they set­tle into their new class­rooms and timeta­bles they will begin to make new friends and get ready to learn and dis­cov­er many new things.  Even though the kids have returned to school, that does­n’t mean the back to school prepa­ra­tion has end­ed for par­ents.  In fact, it’s only just begun.  While the kids are in school, there are a few things that par­ents need to be aware when it comes to the well being of their chil­dren.  Some things to keep an eye on:

Stress and Anx­i­ety

Com­mon amongst high school stu­dents and under­grads, stress and anx­i­ety can have a huge impact on your child’s life.  At this point in their lives, high school stu­dents are stressed about their grades, want­i­ng to make sure they score the top marks to get into the school of their choice.  On the oth­er hand, under­grads are also stressed out not only about their grades but also deal­ing with pres­sures when it comes to look­ing for a job.  Stress is not a bad thing, as it can be used as a moti­va­tor how­ev­er too much stress can have a last­ing effect on your child.  From sleep­less nights to the onset of depres­sion, excess lev­els of stress can change the behav­iour and health of your chil­dren.  To pre­vent the dam­ag­ing effects, talk to your child about stress and anx­i­ety and the ways that they can deal with it, such as talk­ing to some­one or tak­ing part in a unre­lat­ed activ­i­ty.  Remem­ber to keep in touch with them through­out the school year and try to get involved in their stud­ies.  This way as a par­ent, you have a bet­ter under­stand­ing of the work­load your chil­dren are han­dling and it gives you the oppor­tu­ni­ty to make sure they aren’t tak­ing on more than they can han­dle.

Bul­ly­ing

School yard bul­ly­ing has been around for years, with chil­dren pick­ing on chil­dren dur­ing recess and through­out the school days.  How­ev­er when chil­dren left the play­ground, they usu­al­ly left the bul­ly­ing there.  Unfor­tu­nate­ly that’s not the case any­more.  With the rise of tech­nol­o­gy and the intro­duc­tion of social media, the bul­ly­ing now fol­lows chil­dren at home.  Yes, we are talk­ing about cyber­bul­ly­ing.   Accord­ing to the Oxford dic­tio­nary, cyber­bul­ly­ing is the use of elec­tron­ic com­mu­ni­ca­tion to bul­ly a per­son, typ­i­cal­ly by send­ing mes­sages of an intim­i­dat­ing or threat­en­ing nature.  Cyber­bul­ly­ing has now become promi­nent amongst all school chil­dren, from mid­dle school to post sec­ondary.  What makes cbyer­bul­ly­ing worse than school­yard bul­ly­ing is that those fac­ing it may be reluc­tant to admit to being the vic­tims of cyber­bul­ly­ing.  This allows for the bul­ly­ing to go unno­ticed by par­ents and pro­vides the oppor­tu­ni­ty for it to get worse.

If your child is active­ly using social media, let them know what cyber­bul­ly­ing is and how to spot it. Remem­ber to teach your chil­dren the prop­er ways to use social media or oth­er dig­i­tal plat­forms so that they do not become a cyber­bul­ly.  As a par­ent, allow for open com­mu­ni­ca­tion between you and your child on a reg­u­lar basis.  As it was said before, those fac­ing cyber­bul­ly­ing are reluc­tant to admit it so talk­ing to your child about their day or the activ­i­ties going on in their lives allows for you to get a sense of whether or not your child is being bul­lied.

Safe­ty

As stu­dents return to class, safe­ty is a year round con­cern.  From the gen­er­al play­ground safe­ty to walk­ing home alone, you want to make sure that your chil­dren are safe any­where they go.  If they’re walk­ing to school, remind them to look all ways and wait for traf­fic to come to a halt before cross­ing the street.  Also, remind them nev­er to text while cross­ing the street.  Tex­ting and walk­ing is just as dan­ger­ous as tex­ting and dri­ving as it impairs your vision and reac­tion time.  For younger chil­dren on the play­ground, remind them of play­ing safe and that shov­ing and push­ing are not accept­able.  For old­er stu­dents liv­ing on cam­pus this year, let them know that they can have fun but to remem­ber to use their bet­ter judge­ment.

Chil­dren spend an aver­age of six hours a day in school, not includ­ing post sec­ondary stu­dents.  With so much time being spent in the class­room, it’s impos­si­ble for par­ents to make sure their chil­dren are safe 24/7.  As par­ents, by pro­vid­ing the basic back to school safe­ty tips, you’re allow­ing for your child to have a safe and fun school year.  With 195 days of school this year, it’s bound to be a fun and mem­o­rable year.