Safety Tips

When they start secondary school, many children will want to walk there, and to alternative destinations, on their own. This may be an exciting time as they assert their independence. But, for parents, it can also be a worrying time, particularly concerning road safety.

One of the very best ways to prepare children would be to start young and practice through real adventure, like walking into school, the park or even the playground. Kids who acquire street awareness in primary school are in a much better place if they make the transition into secondary school.

There's absolutely no legal minimum age when a child is allowed to walk on their own. It's up to you and your kid, and also will depend on their confidence along with the routes they're taking.

How to Teach Your Child Road Awareness

When introducing young children to street awareness it's important to bear in mind that they perceive traffic in different methods to adults. Canadiankids.net

Children can also be easily diverted.

Everything you can do:

• Set an example: stop, look and listen, do not take risks and prevent using your mobile telephone when crossing the road
• Find a safe place to cross where you can see easily, ideally at a crossing or away from parked cars and when it's clear, walk directly across
• Talk about the visitors you see on your way along with the top places to cross, and ask questions about the speed and size of different vehicles
• In silent areas, slowly allow your kids to practice making decisions concerning where and when to cross roads

Encourage Independence

As children reach upper primary school they'll want to be independent. Use this time to bolster their road awareness and gradually encourage them to make their own conclusions:

• Practise walking to school and to alternative destinations together. Dog Hacker Start to allow them lead the way and also make decisions about where and when to cross
• Once you're both convinced, they could walk a little further ahead
• When they are prepared to go it alone, work out a route together using quieter streets and preventing busy junctions. Walk the route with them to point out good crossing things and things to watch out for
• Encourage them to walk together with neighborhood friends (you Might Want to put some ground rules with other parents first)
• Remind them to prevent distractions such as talking to buddies, using mobile phones or sporting earphones when crossing streets