Walk to/from School Safety Tips - What are you teaching your kids these days?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A friend in NYC has been updating her kids on keeping their heads on a swivel but also to stand with feet in a stance apart like a mortal Kim at fighter one behind the other at stop lights so no one pushes you into oncoming traffic or train tracks. I figure these are safe tips to use even here in DC. Is there anything else you have recently heard that you hadn’t practiced before?

Uh, this seems unnecessarily alarming for most kids. We tell our middle schooler to pay attention and be aware of her surroundings; she also walks with a friend most days. We walk our elementary schooler. Have never felt the need for safety tips like this on the sidewalks in my neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

I have a confident 13 year old who can navigate our neighborhood on foot, by metro, or by bus.

Here's what I taught him.

At 4, he learned our phone numbers and what to do if he got lost in a crowd.

At 5, we practiced looking both ways before crossing the street. At 6, crossing our neighborhood street.

At 7, making eye contact and a little wave before crossing streets in front of school. Small cash transactions in the neighborhood store.

At 8, walking the 2 blocks from the bus stop to school, graduating to the point where he would get off the bus and I'd stay on to my destination.

At 9, solo bus ride to school.

10 and 11 were his pandemic years. He learned how to cross busy streets with traffic lights to go see friends in the neighborhood.

At 12, metro.

Tips we are learning now -- keep your head out of your phone when you are walking around.

I have had TONS of conversations with my kid about traffic safety. I have not one time considered how to prepare him for an imagined random stranger who will push him into train tracks.

[Anonymous]

If someone grabs you bite them, they won't be expecting it. Then run like hell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Be aware of your surroundings.
Never run into intersections even if you have the light. Always check for cars turning left.
If something seems off (on the metro) get off and change cars.
If you need help, look for a woman with kids.
Never get into another persons car - run away like your life depends on it.

This is one of the things I have always told my kids too. That or a police officer but I kind of prefer a mom if they have the choice.

How many of the responders are white? I would not tell my kid to go to a police officer.

[Anonymous]

Okay. Isn’t anyone cautious about physical fights between kids? Turf stuff? I am afraid of my kid being in the mix of kids at certain Metro stops when school lets out.

Have you prepared them what to do in the neighborhood if they encounter a situation where someone starts shooting? Have you prepared your kid for that? Or is that not a worry for most on this board?

I also tell my kid that if their white friends start acting up / making trouble - to get the hell away from them because if anyone is going to get in trouble in a mixed group of kids, it will be my tall for his age Black child. I also give this talk to all of the parents of white kids before they go out around town with my kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Okay. Isn’t anyone cautious about physical fights between kids? Turf stuff? I am afraid of my kid being in the mix of kids at certain Metro stops when school lets out.

Have you prepared them what to do in the neighborhood if they encounter a situation where someone starts shooting? Have you prepared your kid for that? Or is that not a worry for most on this board?

I also tell my kid that if their white friends start acting up / making trouble - to get the hell away from them because if anyone is going to get in trouble in a mixed group of kids, it will be my tall for his age Black child. I also give this talk to all of the parents of white kids before they go out around town with my kid.

Yeah I worry about these things, too. Fighting in the metro platform means go far away, preferably to the station manager station, even if it means missing your train. If fighting breaks out on the car, go to the next car.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Okay. Isn’t anyone cautious about physical fights between kids? Turf stuff? I am afraid of my kid being in the mix of kids at certain Metro stops when school lets out.

Have you prepared them what to do in the neighborhood if they encounter a situation where someone starts shooting? Have you prepared your kid for that? Or is that not a worry for most on this board?

I also tell my kid that if their white friends start acting up / making trouble - to get the hell away from them because if anyone is going to get in trouble in a mixed group of kids, it will be my tall for his age Black child. I also give this talk to all of the parents of white kids before they go out around town with my kid.

My kids are still too young for this advice, but it’s very good advice. We take non-white kids out with us often and I appreciate the flag for when they get older and out of the “kids with mom” stage. What SHOULD you do if someone starts shooting? I imagine it could be somewhere like at a bus stop or on a sidewalk.

[Anonymous]

So -- weirdly, listening to NPR this morning, I heard a story about the Republican candidate for NY who is pushing stories of isolated criminal incidents on the subway to inflate fear, namechecking ideas about pushing people onto the subway tracks, and using the phrase "head on a swivel".

New York Republican Congressman Lee Zeldin, do you post on DCUM?