Road Education For Children Also Depends On Parents
Road education is essential for teaching our children about safety. In fact, most of the accidents occur due to imprudence or ignorance regarding the road rules. For this reason, it is essential to educate the little ones on this issue.
Indeed, children who are given road safety education will not only be less likely to be involved in accidents, but they will also become responsible adults and know the rules. Therefore, drivers, pedestrians, cyclists and passengers will be aware and prudent.
But who is responsible for teaching children road safety? Very often parents think that someone else will do it or that the school will take care of it. It is advisable not to wait for this to really happen, since the road education of children is also the responsibility of the parents, who, above all, set an example.
Below, we will see in detail some useful elements to understand the importance of road education for children and adolescents.
Why is children’s road education important?
Children, especially when they are small, walk on public land as pedestrians or passengers, always accompanied by their parents or by an adult who has responsibility for them. Both parents and educators must stimulate road education in minors that generates civic sense in them, so that they can develop awareness in the road sector.
This road education will help children learn the rules of civil coexistence and specific guidelines for safe mobility. Furthermore, they will know what are the possible consequences of doing things wrong and what are the benefits of doing them well. This will undoubtedly determine their behavior in the future.
Furthermore, it is important to take into account that children, precisely because they are so young, have not yet fully developed the capacity for logical reasoning or psychic maturity. Just as their psychomotor skills are in the development phase and they are not always able to make decisions in the face of possible problems that they might have on the street.
Adults are therefore responsible not only for accompanying them (to ensure their total safety), but also for teaching them the basic rules, through instructions and indications, but, most of all, by example. In this way, children will gradually acquire the necessary knowledge for correct behavior on the street.
What is road safety education for children?
Roadside education in childhood is not just about giving children traffic rules or signs or being a good driver. Other aspects of children’s developmental development need to be integrated.
Road education content should be integrated into children’s daily lives, as well as teaching them to dress or wash themselves. In this way we will be able to foment safety and help reduce road accidents.
In addition to information about road signs and what to do, road education for children must include education in values such as respect, a sense of responsibility, sharing space, and so on. It is about teaching children the actions and habits associated with the care and protection of people who use public land. When these habits are learned early, they can help prevent road accidents.
How to teach it to children?
There are a few simple things parents can add to their children’s daily lives to complement the road education they receive in school. One of these is, for example, teaching them to always look before crossing the street, even if they do so by holding an adult’s hand. Furthermore, it is important that they acquire the good habit of checking that no vehicles arrive from one side and the other, before crossing.
In addition, it is very useful to teach them that they must seek – as far as possible – a pedestrian crossing to cross the street. Likewise, it must be explained that you should never cross when the light is red, even if there are no cars nearby. Furthermore, if children use bicycles, it is important to teach them to always use helmets and to choose the safest possible roads.
When you are out and about with them, on foot or by car, you may want to show them and explain what the different road signs are, so they can familiarize themselves with them. Finally, there are some apps to help parents with this task. Finally, responsible parental driving behavior will be the best way to demonstrate your child by example.
