School is back in session for just about everyone–except for a few students headed to colleges that start later in the month. So now is a good time to recap the safety and security topics we’ve presented in the past at the start of a new school year.
Below we’ve highlighted our top posts on kid and school safety from the past two years, and by kids we mean those college students who now view themselves as adults too. Take a quick look and see if any of these topics jump out at you as something that needs review—or to be forwarded to a high school or college student as a reminder.
Safety for school-aged kids
Beyond getting kids safely to and from school, safety for kids is really a 24-hour concern for parents, even when those kids are home. Check out these tips for keeping your kids safe—for peace of mind for you.
For kids who either leave the house after you or get home before you, see these tips for latch-key kids (and their parents): After School Safety for Latchkey Kids.
Getting to and from school can put kids at risk. See these 8 tips for keeping kids safe to and from school.
Once they’re home—and you’re still not—you can keep tabs on your kids from afar. Read how in this post about keeping an eye on kids remotely with a home security system.
Safety for teenagers still at home
Teenagers tend to think they know everything. So maybe send them a link to this post on back-to-school safety tips for teens and see if they read it. If not, be a little more proactive and force the issue. This post is directed at the teens, with input from my own teenager, and talks about a range of safety issues, include cyber safety. It’s important stuff. If your kids read nothing else at the start of this new school year, have them read this post.
Speaking of my teen, you might also read about teaching teens commonsense precautions, with stories drawn from my own experiences.
Safety for college students
Even if you’ve already moved your teenagers into their dorms, you should still go over these college campus safety tips with them—a.s.a.p.
For those college students who will be driving home on the weekends, and later for the holidays, go over the advice in this post on teen safety tips for road trips.
General safety precautions for everyone
Not every safety tip is age-specific. Below are links to additional safety information, that you can pass on to your kids when you think they are old enough to a) need the advice, and b) heed the advice.
Everyone, including you, needs to read about the importance of changing passwords often and well. This post includes ways to make it easy to change your passwords without compromising the strength of those passwords.
Also a good read to go along with the post above, this post goes into how to keep your passwords and PINs safe: Security at Your Fingertips: Keeping Passwords and PIN Codes Safe.
And since kids are getting online and into social media at ever younger ages, definitely brush up on social media safety with them, making sure you follow the same commonsense precautions when online.
We’re hopeful that every one of you gets off to a safe and sound start to the new school year, and we hope these past posts help!
