5 Ways to Help Kids Stay Safe When They Go Back to School

The world is a crazy place nowadays and it's hard to know what to do with your kids.  The fine line of balance between being overprotective and cautious is teetered daily.  You want to make sure that you're allowing them to be kids but also want to make sure that they are safe from the nut bars that walk our streets on the regular.  Back to school does not help.  Here are 5 tips for attempting to keep your kids safe as the school year begins....

1.  Phone Vigilance.  This doesn't apply to everyone but here's the deal: Your kids playing Pokemon Go while they're walking to school are not paying attention.  They aren't looking for cars coming at them but they're also not keep an eye out for the people around them.  Yes, it's unlikely that they could get abducted in the twenty feet from your car at drop off to the playground but child predators are crafty and you don't want them to not be paying attention.  Period.  Teach them to keep the phones in their backpacks (on silent or off) from the minute they get to school.  No game is more important than their safety and well-being.  This also goes for checking your children's phones for chats and inappropriate pictures.  Sext blackmail is a very real thing that predators use.

2.  Be On Your Toes and Travel in Groups (when possible):  I don't care if you live in the most ritzy neighborhood in the country, abductions are real.  You may walk your kids to and from school and that's great but there are still field trips and other occasions where the kids are out and about.  Make sure they are paying attention to their surroundings.  Try to make sure that they're always traveling with others, as abductions are less likely when a child is with a group.

3.  Talk to them about stranger danger.  This sounds incredibly simple but it is lacking in a whole lot of families.  Parents don't want to scare their kids.  Parents want to keep their children in their safe little bubble.  Unfortunately, though, it's a necessary evil to let your kids know that there are bad people in the world and they don't always look like they do in the movies.  In fact, a whole lot of them look like very normal people.  I like to recommend the video that was made by the creator of Baby Einstein and John Walsh.  It's simple terminology but very clear.  Teach your kids that strangers will say ANYTHING from lost puppies to you being hurt.

4.  Establish a code word.  Again, this may make you  roll your eyes but can you guarantee that if your 5 year old would know what to do in a stranger situation, "Hey Katie.  Mommy was in a terrible accident.  Your dad asked me to come get you and take you to the hospital."...Guess what; research shows that a whole lot of "Katie's" are going to get in the car.  Predators know how to play on the kids' emotions.  Establish a word that ONLY you, your safe person (in case you're hurt or otherwise unavailable) and your kids know. Make sure they know not to tell ANYONE and to NEVER go with ANYONE unless they can tell you that word.

5.  Don't put their names on things.  I can't stress this enough.  STOP PUTTING YOUR KIDS' NAMES ON BACKPACKS AND CLOTHES.  It's cute and "easy to identify" when they're all in a pile but it's also easy for child predators to say, "Hey Brandon, come here."  Kids assume that adults that know their names know THEM.  If you REALLY feel the need to put their name on their backpack for identification, put it on the area where the straps go.  This makes certain that their name is not showing when they are out and about.  Better yet, if you really need that outside "name", simply put their initials.  It still allows easy identification but gives added protection from a predator being able to single them out.

It sucks that we have to worry about these things but we must be vigilant to attempt to protect our kids.  Please share this info with your friends and make sure to practice it yourself to help in the fight to keep your little ones safe and sound.

I Don't Want to Re-Live High School

I know a whole mess of people that love to say, "I wish I could go back to high school.  It was so much easier back then."  For those people, I have to assume that high school was a fun time.  I have to assume that they have parents that didn't make them work or, at the very least, allowed them to spend the money they earned on fun things. I have to assume that they were the popular kids or, at the very least, had a crowd of people they loved to be with at school functions.  I have to assume that their high school experience was very different.

For me, high school was not a time I would wish to re-live.....ever.......or anything like it.

Did I have good times?  Of course I did.  Did I have great friends?  Of course.  Some of those friends I still talk to.  I also had to change schools multiple times and move between states.  I also had to live through the popular girls teasing me.  I lived through anxiety-driven shyness and inability to feel good in my own skin.  I would not want to re-live that.

Oh, don't get me wrong.  Realistically, there are a whole lot of people that don't change at all from high school on behaviorally or socially. There are plenty of people who go on to get jobs and still practice the same mean girl tactics.  There are plenty of people who view cheating on their spouses the same way that they viewed cheating on their steady girlfriend back then.  There are plenty of people who will still play the "I'm more popular than you" game and there are plenty of girls that are still sleeping around looking for attention.  I guess those 20 something years that are meant to "find yourself" weren't very productive for those.  These are the girls that were relentless to pick on you back then and now want to "friend" you on Facebook.  Bite me, B, you were awful to me and I'm pretty sure you're just as awful now so unless you're "friending" me to apologize, don't waste your time.

For the people that have grown up and changed, that's wonderful.  The way I feel, though, is that some people are friends for a reason and some for a season.  The ones that were just meant to be high school friends?  Well, we grew apart after high school and I'm okay with that.  We had a lot of fond memories to share and I'm so grateful for those.  However, we moved on with our lives...and I'm not sad.  I wish them the best.

The real friends, the ones that I've kept in touch with, grew with me.  They didn't necessarily make the exact same decisions or do the exact same things but they grew with me.  We were all branches on the same tree; no matter how far apart we grew, we all shared the same trunk.  Do we have funny high school memories?  Yes!  Do we share even better memories since then?  Abso-friggin-lutely.

Remember the next time that you tell a high schooler, "Oh you'll miss this," that not all of them will. Some of them just need to hear "Enjoy it as much as you can and muscle through because it only gets better from here."

Teacher Appreciation

I don't think, sometimes, that it's said often enough how great teachers really are.  I can honestly say that the staff at my kids' schools is fantastic.  I have yet to have a teacher I haven't liked and, quite frankly, everyone from the office staff to the cafeteria workers are so friendly and sweet.  It seems like there is a generation of kids coming up whose parents blame teachers for common core (which was NOT instituted by teachers, ironically).  They blame teachers for not having textbooks in their classrooms (which the teachers are not responsible for as this is a funding issue).  They blame teachers for their little angels getting into trouble.  It's always the teacher's fault in their eyes and most of the problems they're describing have absolutely NOTHING to do with anything the teachers can control.

My point is simply this: Take time to talk to the teachers in your school.  They are, often, just as frustrated with circumstances as you are.  They are doing their best to fight the injustice while still fighting hard to teach your child.  Most of them love their jobs and just want your child to love learning just as much as they do.  Take a little time to appreciate these individuals for the hard work they're doing and give them a little love for taking on a job that would make most of us crazy.

The 5 Moms at the PTSA Meetings

In honor of the PTSA meetings starting up, I wanted to make a fun post.  Let me preface by saying this is strictly from my own experiences so please don't turn this into a fussy post where you take it all personally.  Without further ado.....

THE FIVE MOMS YOU FIND AT THE PTSA MEETINGS....

The Organizer:  You know this mom.  She may be the President or she may just be a super mom that has the ability to plan and execute every activity all year long (the person that SHOULD be the President of the PTSA).  She's going to be loud and proud and not let her opinion go unheard.  She's going to be on top of things all of the time.  Her kids are probably dressed to the nines every day at school and she never misses a meeting. She'll hear you out every time because she just wants the parents to get involved.  Generally these moms are friendly and light hearted but very strong willed (you have to be for some of these tasks) and a born leader.

The Bitter Wanna Be Organizer  This is the mom that is still ticked off that she didn't win the votes to be the President of the PTSA....or maybe she didn't put her hat in the running but is bitter AT the President of the PTSA because "she could do a better job."  Ironically this mom will only pick and choose her tasks but she will kick butt at every task she does, regardless of how exhausted she gets.  She can be found sitting at the back of the meeting mumbling to another bitter parent or her spouse about how she should be the one leading the meetings. (Side note:  If this mom DOES get to be President and sees how hard it is, it's humbling for her and her attitude can sometimes change for the positive).

The Super Involved Stay at Home Mom  This mom might not directly want to be involved in the staff of the PTSA but she definitely wants to help.  She's at every even helping and volunteering.  She is often the mom that uses Pinterest as her secret weapon and can create anything with a little whimsy.  She will often drive to and from meetings or help out the moms that can't make it to the meetings or events due to work.

The Barely Makes it or Comes Late Working Mom  Guilty as charged.  These moms work on schedules that either have them coming in late or leaving early so they can still make it to their job.  They want to be involved but can't always be at the events that occur during the day.  In fact, they need crazy amounts of planning in order to be able to make it there period.  Their intentions are good but their ability to be in two places at once is very evident.

and finally....

The Spectator  These are the parents that come to vote and that's about as far as their involvement goes.  It's not a bad thing.  They may join in once or twice if they get a special call from the PTSA staffers but they generally are just coming to the meetings to know what's going on in their kids' lives. 

and an added bonus..... the Absentee Ballot:  These are the parents that pay the fee, join the PTSA and then never do another thing the whole year.  Still important for paying the fees and contributing, these parents are absolutely never at any meetings or events the whole year.  It's not that they don't care about their kids, they just don't care about the PTSA and they CERTAINLY do not want to volunteer.

Again, this post is designed to be fun so have a little giggle at where you see yourself in here.  Get involved where you can when you can and support your PTSA!