Chicdriven 101: Parenting road safety

A child’s car seat can save you tons of grief and heartache.

I read a story on Facebook the other day. It was one of those sponsored stories that pop out in your feed. It started out as something like this: “‘I went to party, Mom, and I didn’t drink.’ But what he said next will break your heart.” I got curious and clicked (sucker me) on the link.

In the middle of reading, I just wanted to stop; I didn’t want to continue anymore. The gist was that the son went to a party and followed his mom’s advice not to touch alcohol, but on the way home got hit by a drunk driver.

As a mother of five with a very active imagination, I just couldn’t go on without thinking: What if this was my 15-year-old son? A child with so much potential that you invested many sleepless nights, and so much blood, sweat and tears to bring up in this world.

Okay, breathe… Before I go on a rampage about how hostile this world is for my babies, let’s go back to the subject. For me, the biggest issue about road safety is discipline.

In this country, there is no formal education or training for road users, unlike in others where a driver’s education is part of the school curriculum and there are strict eligibility tests before you get a license.

Getting a license is just a measly few thousand pesos. A few thousand pesos, and the potential murderer of our kids can legally terrorize the road. They are not just the uneducated truck drivers or bus drivers.

Sometimes it’s the kabarkada, the kid from the other street, or the spoiled rich kid with the driving capability of an imbecile behind the wheel of a super sophisticated driving machine that their money-hungry and career-focused parents bought as an expression of their parenthood.

So what do we do as parents? What can we do to cultivate a new generation of disciplined motorists? How? When we are so busy trying to work so that we can decently provide for them.

I know I have the same problem. But below are some easy tips that you can incorporate in your everyday parenting.

Teach the concept even while they are still toddlers. At this point, your kids are probably crazy about some sort of machine with wheels. Instead of playing and simulating car crashes (Oh no! Lightning

McQueen crashed with Thomas the Train… Boom, bam, crash!), teach them the importance of taking turns (Look,

McQueen is stopping so  he can give way to Thomas).

I know you might think, where is the fun in that. But, hey, I don’t know who is going to laugh when your kids get into a car crash.

Make it fun. Find a fun way to teach road safety. For example: Guess the next color of the stoplight and its corresponding meaning (No, yellow does not mean go faster).

Aside from the different directions, teach the importance of using  signals when making a turn. Although not ideal because of the lack of road signs, you can also play a game of “I spy a road sign.”

Religiously use safety materials. Using a child’s car seat and buckling the seat belts when traveling in a car, or wearing protective gear like helmets when biking or skate boarding are all important.  Yes, they’re  a hassle, but a few minutes of bother can save you tons of pain and heartache later on.

I know there are some kids who refuse to ride a car seat and make driving stressful. In our case, since we know our son likes racing, we bought him a “racing car” seat.

We showed him a photo of the race car brand and told him its his racing seat in the car.  Now he happily sits in his racing car seat. Try to find something that you can associate the car seat with.

Be a good example. Cursing, speeding, jaywalking and not following road rules, when seen  being done by parents,  will become the norm for kids. These behaviors will wrongly imprint on their subconscious.

Reinforce safety lessons. Instead of always taking the lead, encourage your kids to practice road safety on their own. When crossing the road, explain the essential steps: Stop, look, listen, hold mommy or daddy’s hand, and then cross the pedestrian lane. You can lead a few times and make some sort of a game, until they have mastered it enough to lead you—under your supervision, of course.

Nowadays even Disney Channel is jumping on the safety bandwagon. With that said, it means safety  is indeed an issue now. As we are tasked to mold our country’s bright future, why not add a few minutes to make it brighter and make them road-safe.

For comments and suggestions please e-mail me at jnt@chicdriven.com or follow @chicdriven in Instagram, Twitter or like us on Facebook/chicdriven.