School-age safety: in a nutshell

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Keeping her safe on the internet

Your child uses computers at school and, if you are on the internet at home, she may even have favourite sites bookmarked. The internet is an open environment. Anyone can stumble across dodgy content, like pornography, or talk to a stranger in a chat room. These are things that children are protected from in the real world. The only way to really protect her on the internet is to supervise her at all times.

Teaching her about how other people use the internet can also help:

• Explain what chat rooms are for so she will understand that people online may pretend to be someone different.
• You may want to make a rule about only entering a chat room if she has checked with you first.
• Teach her how to leave a chat room if someone says something upsetting.
• You can also teach her to turn the screen off and tell you if something appears onscreen that upsets her. Let her know that it’s not her fault that things appear there for no reason.

The Parent’s Guide to Internet Safety (PDF 1.19mb) has lots of advice and tells you how to get a free internet safety kit.

Safety outside

In the playground

• The chance of a playground injury is greater for preschool and primary school children, as they are developing body strength and judgement skills.
• Try to keep a close watch if your child is swinging from the monkey bars or flying fox as this is where she is most likely to fall. Encourage her to try the monkey bars when she has the upper body strength to support her weight and is tall enough to reach the bars without help.
• In case of falls, it’s best that she climbs no higher than two metres off the ground (the height of a tall person). Read more about playground safety.

Things with wheels

• Wheels can be tricky to master. Lots of practice in a safe area will build up her confidence.
• Falls are part of the wheels deal. Without well-fitting protective gear for bikes, skateboards and rollerblades (helmet, kneepads, elbow guards), she can badly injure herself.
• Teach your child how to stay safe on wheels.

Water
Help her stay safe around pools and water:

• Always stay with your child when she is in or near the water, even if she can swim.
• Remember that drowning can take less than a minute and is silent. Keep an eye on her at all times around water.
• Swim between the flags at beaches.
• You may want to learn resuscitation techniques such as CPR.

Cars and road safety

• Children move to an adult seatbelt when they are over 26 kg or too squeezy in the booster seat. If your child sits in the middle back seat (a very safe place) with only a lap seatbelt, it is a good idea to hold her head and torso secure with a child harness. When using an adult seatbelt, make sure the lap belt is tight across her hips, not her tummy, and that she doesn’t wriggle her arms over the shoulder strap.
• Children are impulsive and, until the age of about 10, are not able to stay safe around traffic. Always hold your child’s hand in carparks and when walking on footpaths or crossing a road.
• Teach her to use the lights and pedestrian crossings, to look both ways and stop before a driveway to check for cars. Practise good road sense yourself and talk about what you are doing so she can learn from your example. Find out more about road safety.

In case of fire

Many children are attracted to fire so there are some obvious things to remember. Never let your child play with matches or fire lighters. Make sure all gas rings on your stove are turned off. Turn off electric heaters when you leave the room.

• Deadlocking doors when you are inside the house prevents you getting out if there is a fire. Only deadlock when you away from home.
• Plan at least two clear exits from your home.
• Explain the dangers of fire to your child. Her school may also have done this so you can discuss the lessons she learned there to reinforce your message.
• Practise a fire escape plan with your family. Teach your child the ‘stop, drop, cover and roll’ drill in case her clothes catch fire. Reinforce the ‘get down low and go, go, go’ escape drill for crawling under smoke and poisonous gases.
• Install smoke alarms to give early warning of a fire in your house. Change the batteries once a year and test alarms regularly.
• In a fire, keep a close watch on your child once she is outside to make sure she doesn’t run back into the house

Stranger danger

As your child starts school, you will not be there most days to keep her safe. It is important that she understands 'stranger danger' so that she can help herself stay safe even when you are not around.

At school:

• Show her the safe areas at school.
• Remind her never to go out the school gates unless she is with a teacher or someone she knows.
• Let her know that if you are running a few minutes late to pick her up from school, she should stay in the school playground, with a teacher, until you arrive.

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  Newsletter snippet: School-age safety: in a nutshell
  

  
  By Raising Children Network

  To keep your school-age child safe, you can teach her safety rules while, of course, continuing to keep an eye on her.
  
  Safety inside

  • Supervise your child whenever she is using the internet.
  • In case of fire, have emergency plans and escape routes.
  • Never let your child play with matches, fire-lighters or electrical equipment.

  Safety outside

  • Keep a close watch in the playground.
  • Help your child to practise using a bicycle or skateboard in a safe area.
  • Always stay with your child when she is in or near the water.
  • Swim between the flags at beaches.
  • Talk to your child about stranger danger.

  Safety in the car

  • Make sure seatbelts are fitted properly.
  • Use a child harness if your child sits in the middle back seat.
  • Hold hands in car parks, when walking on footpaths or crossing roads.
  • Teach her to use pedestrian crossings, to look both ways and to stop before crossing a driveway.

  This article is an extract only. For more information, visit raisingchildren.net.au/safety/school_age_safety.html.

  Sourced from the Raising Children Network's comprehensive and quality-assured Australian parenting website www.raisingchildren.net.au.