Back to School: Keeping Kids Safe and Healthy
Nikki Walls, MSN, APRN, FNP-C
As children head back to school, families are returning to busy mornings, homework, sports, and after-school activities. Along with buying school supplies and preparing backpacks, this is a good time for parents and caregivers to review a few simple steps that can help keep children safe and healthy throughout the school year.
Start With Healthy Habits
Good health plays an important role in school success. Children should eat a nutritious breakfast, drink plenty of water, stay physically active, and get adequate sleep each night. Establishing consistent bedtimes and limiting screens before bed can make the transition back to school easier.
Make sure routine well-child visits, dental exams, vision screenings, and immunizations are up to date. If your child takes medication or has asthma, allergies, diabetes, seizures, or another medical condition, make sure the school has current information and an appropriate health or emergency plan.
Frequent handwashing and teaching children to cover coughs and sneezes can also help reduce the spread of illnesses. Children who are sick, especially with fever, vomiting, or diarrhea, may need to stay home until they are well enough to return.
Sleep Is Part of School Success
Returning to an early school schedule can be difficult after summer vacation. School-age children and teenagers need adequate sleep for concentration, memory, mood, physical health, and academic performance.
A consistent bedtime and wake-up time can make the transition easier. Limiting phones, tablets, video games, and other screens before bedtime can also help children settle into a healthier sleep routine.
Pay Attention to Emotional Health
Returning to school can bring excitement as well as anxiety. Talk with your child regularly about friends, schoolwork, bullying, and how they are feeling.
Changes in sleep, appetite, mood, grades, friendships, or suddenly not wanting to attend school may be signs that a child is struggling. Encourage children to speak with a parent, teacher, counselor, or another trusted adult when something doesn’t feel right.
Get to School Safely
Whether children walk, ride a bicycle, take the bus, or travel by car, reviewing transportation safety is important.
Children who walk to school should use sidewalks whenever possible, cross at designated crosswalks, and look left, right, and left again before crossing. Remind children to avoid looking at phones or wearing headphones that prevent them from hearing traffic.
Bicycle riders should always wear a properly fitted helmet and follow traffic rules. As mornings become darker later in the year, reflective clothing, backpacks, or bicycle lights can make children easier for drivers to see.
Children riding the school bus should stay several steps away from the curb while waiting and should never walk behind a bus. If something is dropped near or underneath the bus, children should tell the driver rather than trying to retrieve it themselves.
Drivers also have an important role. School zones become busy very quickly, especially during drop-off and pickup. Slow down, avoid distractions, and be particularly alert for children entering the roadway. Never pass a school bus when its red lights are flashing and its stop arm is extended
Review Personal and Online Safety
Perhaps one of the most valuable safety habits is also one of the simplest: talk with your children.
Instead of only asking, “How was school?” try questions such as, “Who did you sit with today?” “What was the best part of your day?” or “Was there anything today that made you uncomfortable?”
Children should know who is allowed to pick them up and what to do if plans change. Younger children should learn a parent’s phone number as soon as they are able.
Talk about internet safety, including protecting personal information and telling an adult about threatening, inappropriate, or uncomfortable messages or online interactions.
Children are more likely to tell adults about a problem when everyday communication is already part of family life.
Back-to-school season is a fresh start for the entire family. It can be exciting, hectic, and sometimes stressful. A little preparation can help children begin the year feeling safe, supported, and ready to learn. A few simple routines—good nutrition, adequate sleep, preventive healthcare, open communication, and basic safety habits—can help children stay healthy, confident, and prepared for a successful school year.