Safety

Staying safe isn’t always as simple as it seems.

When you were very young you relied on your parents or guardians to look after you and to keep you safe from harm. You simply weren’t able to survive on your own. As you grow up, you become able to get food for yourself; move around home and school; play with your friends; and understand the difference between dangerous and safe activities. However, there are often times when we make bad decisions about our safety.

This can be because we don’t have the knowledge or awareness about the consequences of our actions. For example, you may know that electricity can be dangerous in some circumstances, but still be tempted to stick a fork in a toaster to rescue a pancake that hasn’t popped up!

There are hundreds of situations in which you need to take extra care. You are probably tired of your parents reminding you not to walk around in bare feet; not to run when its wet and slippery; not to go too close to the fire; not to mess about when you are carrying something sharp and so on. Remember, they’re doing this to keep you safe. As you get older, all this will come naturally to you.

Despite our best efforts, accidents are very common in life. That’s because we take risks. You might break your arm falling off a skateboard or burn yourself baking. You might twist your ankle doing gymnastics or cut your finger with a pair of scissors. We take slight risks because we really enjoy doing some things. We can’t cut out risk entirely, but we do need to be careful and sensible about the risks we take. Sometimes we forget to be careful when we are distracted. For example, people wearing headphones on the street can’t hear traffic.

Often, when you are trying to do two or more things at once you can have an accident because you aren’t concentrating properly on anything!

Road safety is particularly important as the consequences of a traffic accident can be very bad. Make sure you know exactly how you should cross a road, particularly a busy one. Always use a pedestrian crossing if you can and if you can’t stop, look and listen and only cross when the road is clear. You must always take extra care when there is snow and ice and when there is any danger of falling from a height.

Other people can put you in danger too.

They may not mean to, but they can. Sometimes, if you see your friends taking risks and they seem to be having fun, it’s easy to forget about the dangers and join in. This is called peer pressure, when the people you are with (your peers) put pressure on you to do what they’re doing. It won’t be much fun if you end up in hospital though!

Another way that other people can put you at risk is if they try to harm you intentionally. Bullying is a big problem in schools, and you may have heard about it already. Bullies hurt people by making them feel bad about themselves so that they can show off or feel strong. Often being hurt in your mind is as bad if not worse than the physical pain from accidents. If you think someone is bullying you, talk to your teacher.

Recently, there have been big changes in our lives because of coronavirus. Schools sometimes have to close, and we have to stay at home. So, coronavirus is probably making your life feel really different right now. All these changes might make you feel scared or worried. That’s OK. It’s totally normal to feel like this. You can keep yourself and your family as safe as possible by staying at home as much as possible and washing your hands well and often. When you are back at school, your teacher will keep you right!

Wherever you are and whatever you do, stay safe!