Back to School Safety Tips

August 2025

It’s that time of year again - kids and young adults are headed back to school! Amidst the back to school shopping, class schedules and lunch menus, parents often talk with their kids about physical safety. We talk about how to cross the street, bike safety, bus route and drop-off line procedures, new driver safety, etc. But what about safety with respect to their personal bodies, or digital safety boundaries?

According to the director of the National Children’s Alliance, “As caring adults, we need to be aware of risks and red flags, and make sure that children are aware, as well – and willing and able to talk to a trusted adult if something feels unsafe.”

Across the US, 1 in 10 kids experience sexual abuse most often by someone known to them.  And, according to RAINN, college students or college-age adults, are at particularly high risk of being sexually assaulted—likely by someone they know.

One of the best tools we have as caring adults is open lines of communication with the kids in our lives. So before they head back to school, talk to them about body safety and setting boundaries, and what to do if someone makes them uncomfortable, either through their words or their actions.  Talk to them about safe and unsafe touching, safe and unsafe secrets. Give them examples. And make sure they know who the safe adults are that they can go to if they are being abused.

And don’t forget to talk about digital safety too. Technology facilitated abuse is only increasing. Understand the risks of exposure to inappropriate content, lack of privacy, enticement of children, sexting, sextortion and cyberbullying. Talk to your kids about how to reduce their risks, how to make safe choices online, and ways to prevent cyberbullying. For more information, and resources about protecting kids in a digital world, visit the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s article: Is Your Child Safe Online? Protecting Kids in a Digital World

As caring adults, we need to be mindful of red flags and warning signs. We need to be prepared to respond in trauma-informed ways when our kids come to us with something difficult. Keeping the lines of communication open with our kids is a great way to protect them, and even more important when they’ve experienced harm.