Sunday Mornings with Rania: Staying Safe during the Start of Summer

Rania Mankarious is executive director of Crime Stoppers of Houston. (Photo: lawellphoto.com)

I was simply organizing my kids’ backpacks when a bright blue sheet of paper fell right onto my lap. The title hit me like a ton of bricks; it simply read: TK graduation! RSVP Now!

My stomach instantly sank. This notice meant my youngest child was graduating transitional kindergarten. Time was moving quickly and, let’s face it, we were all getting older. This thought made me want to cry. 

Within a few seconds, I moved on to my next thought: as wonderful as graduations are, they mean something else is to follow: summer. 

Oh, the joys of summer. For kids, that first summer morning represents the dawn of a new day. For parents, it represents the sheer torture of finding fun, age-appropriate activities that hopefully don’t require using Excel spreadsheets, Google Maps and 15 different supporting documents just to figure out where the troops are at all times and how they will be getting from points A to B. 

No matter how you look at it, or how old your children are, with the upcoming change in schedule can come some potential public safety concerns. Here are 5 issues that I hope all parents will make sure they are aware of for this summer: 

1. “100 deadliest days for teens.” The spring season represents a time for older students to have parties, formals/proms, and other school-related events. It’s wonderful but here’s a shocking truth: The months of April, May and June represent the deadliest three months of the year for teens. Additionally, AAA calls the period between Memorial Day and Labor Day "The 100 Deadliest Days" for teen drivers. What’s the cause? Fatal car accidents. As kids get excited for the end of year festivities, please remind them to drive safely, stick to driving in daylight hours, never have more than one or two friends in a car, never use a phone while driving, and never drink while driving. 
2. Be careful of your teen sending or receiving inappropriate photos. As the school year starts to wind down, many students relax and focus on the freedoms ahead. Kids get a little more excited and a little less cautious. Sexting and inappropriate cell phone use spikes as a result.  It’s never a bad idea to talk to your teens about the risks and realities of sending and receiving inappropriate text messages. Remind them that whether they take the photo and/or forward a photo and/or just receive a photo – regardless of their intentions, if they are simply in possession of inappropriate photos of minors, they can be found guilty of creating or distributing child pornography. If caught, they will face a legal battle and potentially have to register as sex offenders. Beyond anything else, they run the risk of dealing with the emotional scars of this activity for decades to come. 
3. Beware of online friends. Like most kids, summer months mean freedom to use social media and/or gaming devices for as long as is allowed by the parents in the home. (Isn’t it sad that gone are the days of endless bike riding and exploring around the neighborhood?) This is a perfect time to start discussing what is expected and what will be allowed when school is out. Remind kids what the risks are when engaging strangers online. Furthermore, let’s speak frankly about the fact that a trained predator can find out where the home is of an untrained youngster who is simply chatting with friends and/or posting even innocent photos. And above all else, PLEASE, make sure kids promise to never speak to a stranger and never (ever) meet a stranger face-to-face. It doesn’t matter if they have been chatting for weeks, months or years. It doesn’t matter if they have become best friends. It doesn’t matter if they have already shared pictures. It doesn’t matter if their best friends will be going with them. If you are not there and this doesn’t involve you, a meeting should never happen. 
4. When outdoor funs turns into outdoor disasters. Thinking ahead, many parents will start to order trampolines or outdoor water activities for the kids. Please be careful! The American Academy of Pediatrics estimates close to 100,000 kids ages 5 to 14 are injured each year on trampolines. Additionally, for children under age 5, drowning is a leading cause of accidental death with death rates of nearly 3 per 100,000 in 2010. Pools are the #1 location where these drownings occur. Know the facts, think twice before you go out and order that trampoline or have your kids run around homes or neighborhood parks where there are pools. 
5. Get the grade, but get it honestly. As the school year comes to a close and exam season kicks in, kids undoubtedly feel the pressure to do a good job and finish the year successfully. This means some will spend a lot of time studying. Others will resort to cheating. One study found that as many as 85 percent of students engage in some type of academic dishonesty before graduating from high school. More importantly, younger kids are feeling the pressure to cheat in response to increased academic pressures at school. Remind your child of the disciplinary actions possible in their schools but also that as long as they are doing their best, working hard do well are starting to cheat more. 

For more information on Crime Stoppers of Houston, go to crime-stoppers.org and follow Crime Stoppers on Facebook. Have topics in mind that you’d like Rania to write about? Email her directly at [email protected]. Read past Sundays with Rania posts here.

Editor's Note: Views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of The Buzz Magazines.