You've read a million posts about helicopter parents, about parents who are so concerned with their children's safety that they won't let their 8 year olds walk to school alone, about people who are so obsessed with the dangers of our world that they call the cops when they see 9 year olds playing at a park by themselves. I'm not going to write about all of these things. What I want to rant about today is how our society is so obsessed with safety and how dangerous our world is, and yet they aren't teaching their children the right things to keep them safe in the situations that ARE actually dangerous.
Let me set the scene for you: We bought a house a few months ago that is four houses down from a brand new elementary school. Awesome. We live on a quiet little side-street that is full of seniors and young families. Double awesome. Today is the first day of school, though my son doesn't start until Friday (they do gradual entry for kindergarten here), so while making breakfast this morning I was watching out the window at all the parents dropping their children off at school.
Here are the things I witnessed before 8:30am: Countless parents j-walking their children across the road haphazardly, with a crosswalk (albeit unmanned) not 10 feet away. Cars driven by rushed parents, full of anxious kids, barreling around the corner, not caring that there are little children crossing the street. Parents parking up and down both sides of our tiny side-street, packing it so tight that my husband struggled to get out of the driveway and down the street when he left for work this morning - an ambulance or fire truck certainly could not have fit during an emergency. And finally, parents pulling into our and our neighbour's driveways and letting their children out.
If you don't see what is wrong with this picture, then this blog post is for you. My son hasn't even started school yet, and already this morning I sent a "concerned parent" email to the school's principal*. BRING ON THE PTA. We spend SO much of our parenting lives worrying about kidnappers, sex offenders, gun violence (which is a very real issue in our neighbouring countries, but not so much here), fire safety, and countless other things, but I am seeing that many parents don't even teach their children to cross the road properly! Did you know that motor vehicle crash related injuries are the number one cause of death in children ages 1-19 in Canada?
Road safety should be your number one priority with young children, BECAUSE IT'S A REAL DANGER. No wonder you won't let your kids walk to school alone, you know they won't cross the street safely if they're following your example! Teach your children to walk on the sidewalk, to use crosswalks, to obey traffic signals and signs, and to walk their bikes and scooters across the street. Also, while your children may not be anywhere near driving age, they learn more about the rules of the road while watching you than they'll ever learn in driver's ed. Drive and park carefully, according to the local laws, and don't put others in danger needlessly. And finally, we pay damn good money for our private driveway, and we will not stand by while you Ace Ventura your way onto our pavement and run over our child who is waiting to be walked to school properly.
Our school has a nice big main road on the other side. It has a kiss-and-ride loop. You do not need to endanger my family and neighbours by dropping your kids off on my tiny street. Come on parents, let's focus on the real community safety issues, and teach our kids appropriately. If you see similar behaviour in your neighbourhood, I urge you to contact the school, or local law enforcement, to make your community a safer place. Yup, it's the first day of school and I'm already THAT parent. HAPPY SEPTEMBER!
*At the time of posting I already received a reply from the principal acknowledging many of the issues we saw this morning and informing me that they are having a board meeting tomorrow to discuss ways to improve community safety. They also are honouring my request to note the proper drop-off procedure in the September newsletter. Well done school, well done.
...Until next time.Labels: asshole drivers, car accidents, community safety, crosswalks, danger, first day of school, j-walking, road safety, school drop-off
