When to buckle up your child?

Now this may seem like a stupid question, but here it goes. Should a child be buckled up in their seat prior to the vehicle moving? Now I’m hoping that the majority of readers out there answered “YES”. Would you believe that an elementary school Vice Principal (VP) actually disagrees?

When my oldest daughter was in grade 1, her school got a new vice-principal. When parents/guardians would pick their child up at the end of the school day, they would line up in their vehicles in a large looped driveway in front of the school.

One day when I picked up my daughter after school, the VP ordered me to move ahead prior to me buckling my daughter up. I stated that I will move ahead once my daughter is buckled up. The VP became quite angry and strongly indicated for me to move forward. I continued to be firm indicating that I will not move until my daughter is safely buckled in her seat. The VP angrily stated that if I don’t comply to moving my vehicle as instructed, I will have to walk into the school to pick up my daughter and no more picking her up in front of the school.

Now here’s the punch line.

The first thing I did when my daughter and I got home was calling the local police department. The police officer that I spoke with indicated that there was nothing that they could do because the school was on private property and not a public road. I was completely shocked by this.

With a long line of vehicles in front of the school to pick up children, the potential for injury to these young children, not being buckled up is huge. I even called the school board with regards to the issue with no resolve. The only thing that the school did was that my daughter had to be centered out by being picked up further down the line away from the main entrance.

This, along with a few other reasons, was why my daughter was pulled out of that particular school and enrolled into another school. This new school took the safety of the children very seriously. We were more than well assured to enroll our youngest daughter into this new school with her big sister.

By sharing this story, I would hope that if you’re in the same situation that I was in, you would stand your ground like I did.  

Until next time, stay safe, healthy and strong.

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