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Back to School Safety Tips

At Ieuter Insurance Group, we love to promote safety! We see your family as an extension of ours and want to make sure you and your kids are prepared to get back to the school routine. With these tips from the National Safety Council you can do just that!

First - remember to share the roads with school buses, pedestrians and bicyclists, and provide children with the necessary knowledge to stay safe at school. Whether the children walk, ride their bicycle or take the bus to school, it is extremely important that they, and the motorists around them, take proper precautions.

Backpack safety – Does your child’s backpack feel like it contains 40 pounds of rocks? That extra weight can affect your child’s still-growing body. Backpacks that are too heavy can cause problems such as back and shoulder pain, poor posture as well as complaints of tingling or numbness. Solution? Look for backpacks that are ergonomic design, the correct size for your child, padded back and shoulder straps, and multiple pockets to distribute the weight.

Playground safety – They don’t make them like they used to and that’s a good thing! Forty years ago playgrounds were downright scary. Everything made of metal with rock-hard earth or concrete underneath. Nearly 80 percent of playground injuries are a result of falls. Things to look for when at the park or school: protective surface under structure should be wood chips, sand, pea gravel and about 12 inches deep, no openings between 3 ½ and 9 inches, rocks or stumps, sharp edges, and of course lack of maintenance.

Head up, phone down – The National Safety Council is focused on efforts to eliminate “distracted” walking, specifically walking while texting. Before your kids head out, remind them of these year-round safety tips: never walk and text or talk on phone, if texting move out of the way of others, do not walk with headphones on, be aware of surroundings, and never cross the street while texting and only use crosswalks.