What is School Bus Stop Safety?

It’s riding the bus back and forth to school safely.  School Bus Safety means:

1.  Following Rules – Children need to know and follow safety rules for:

• walking and crossing
• getting on and off the bus
• riding the bus

2.  Having Respect – Often, children don’t understand how dangerous a bus can be.  They need to respect its size and power.

a)  School Bus Safety also depends on children showing respect for:

• the bus driver
• other passengers
• other people on the road

And children need to know that riding a bus is a privilege.

What Do Parents Have To Do With School Bus Safety?

Alot!  What you teach your child at home could save his or her life.  Keep in mind that

School Bus Safety IS a serious matter.

Millions of children travel safely by bus each school day; but bus-related mishaps do happen.

You can make a difference

As a parent, you can help ensure your childs safety by:

• monitoring your childs bus stop
• working with the school to promote School Bus Safety
• reinforcing safety rules at home
• being a positive role model

School Bus Safety is everyone’s responsibility.

Stop before you cross the street

• Stop at the curb or edge of the road.
• Obey crossing guard if there is one.

Look both ways before crossing the street

• Look Left then
• Look right and then
• Left again

Listen before you cross the road

• Listen to make sure that no vehicle is coming

Walk, don’t run, when it is clear.

Keep looking and listening until you are safely across.

Parents you can make a difference

• Monitor your child’s bus stop
• Reinforcing safety rules at home
• Work with the school to let them know of any hazards
• Being a positive role model and being the example of a safe individual

SAFETY STEPS YOU CAN TAKE:

• Supervise children to make sure they get to the stop on time, wait far away from the road, and avoid rough play.
• Teach your child to ask the driver for help if he/she drops something near the bus. If a child bends down to pick up something, the driver cannot see him/her and the child may be hit by the bus. Have your child use a backpack or book bag to keep loose items together.
• Make sure clothing and backpacks have no loose drawstrings or long straps, to get caught in the handrail or bus door.
• Encourage safe school bus loading and unloading.
• If you think a bus stop is in a dangerous place, talk with your school office or transportation director about changing the location.

As children wait for the bus they face the danger of the road.

“We need to talk to our kids and explain to them, okay, this is going on,” said Mike Tindell.

Tindell knows the hazards first hand. His 13-year old niece, Melissa, lost her life waiting at a bus stop last October.

“It breaks my heart,” said Tindell.

Melissa’s tragic accident sparked a preventative campaign. The goal is to get cars to slow down and teach children to stay out of the road. As a result, 120 school bus stop ahead signs, line the roads of Bay County.

“I mean when we started this, we wanted to make it safer for every child and never have it happen to another child,” said Tindell.

Regardless of signs, the safety issue remains. It’s not just bus stops, some cars continue to speed in school zones. That makes Tindell believes that more must be done.

“I do. I believe 100% that they’re preventable,” said Tindell.

He wants kids to listen, drivers to pay more attention and the school district to create awareness.

“What we can do, is we can join forces, we can link arms and we can move forward,” said Tindell.

Source of story at www.wmbb.com

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Home karaoke machines have experienced a revival with “American Idol” and additional television shows experiencing high ratings. Everybody from young children to individuals in middle age and older are picking up the karaoke microphone and crooning to their favorite songs.With everyone wanting to become the next superstar, it makes sense to generate more ways for us to croon in the privacy of our own home. With so many options available, how do we know which karaoke machine to choose for home?

Conventional Karaoke Singing System

The traditional singing machine comes with a microphone and attaches to your TV. You insert a karaoke CD or cassette into the karaoke player and it displays the words to the songs on your television. You croon along with the music using the microphone.  You hear your singing through either the television speakers or  built-in speakers in the karaoke system. This type of home karaoke music player is rather awkward and not very portable.  If you need portability, you will need to select a different system.

Stand-alone Karaoke System

The stand-alone karaoke system is typically a small black and white monitor with speakers and a microphone. You can read the lyrics on the small screen. The small black and white monitor is the main disadvantage. An additional inconvenience of the traditional karaoke singing machines and the stand-alone models is that you’re limited in the tunes you can play. You have to wait for popular tunes to come out on karaoke CDs or cassettes before you can commence singing them.

Karaoke Microphone

The Karaoke is packaged as only a microphone. It comes with approximately three dozen tunes already loaded and you are able to load MP3 downloads. While this kind of home karaoke music player is more portable, without attaching it to your TV or mp3 player, there is no means to read the lyrics. You will be performing the lyrics from memory.

Mp3 Karaoke/PC Karaoke

You are able to download songs along with specific software that will permit you to use your mp3 player and PC as a karaoke machine.  There is an option to download the songs with or without the lyrics. The mp3 karaoke is in essence, a handheld karaoke machine and you do not need to be near a television to enjoy it.  Also, you can download and play any tune, even the current hits.  For most of us, this is the option that best suits our needs.

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Are you the parent of a child who is often depressed? Are you a child who often feels down in the dumps and depressed? This article offers advice for both parents, other family members and children about how to deal with, reduce and even eradicate this depression.

Before I continue I would like to make it clear that I am not involved within this industry; I am actually involved with offering cheap holidays, helping people to gain access to a professional DVD authoring service and I sell composite doors on a part-time basis.

I remember from my own childhood having many periods when I was very unhappy and sad. Looking back one of my faults was that I was not willing to discuss my worries and fears with my parents and basically kept them bottled up inside of me. The result of this lack of communication, on my behalf, meant that I was very much on my own with any issues that I had. Looking back it would have been a lot better for me personally if I had been a lot more open with my parents about the problems that I was facing; talking was certainly not my speciality at the time however.

I have two children of my own now and just in the same way as no doubt the majority of other parents I am trying my best to ensure that they are happy. I have made it very clear to my kids that they can talk to me, at anytime, about any subject, with the knowledge that I will listen and to try to help them as much as I possibly can without ever judging them. Life in general, with school as an example, can at times be quite tough, with things such as bullying affecting a lot of children. There is the added pressure of examinations and also trying to establish ones self within a group of friends. Moving schools and going through all of the bodily changes can also be quite uncomfortable for many children.

As a family we try to make our childrens home life as enjoyable and relaxed as possible. This includes many family days out and where financially possible, a family holiday abroad in the summer.

In my opinion it is essential that any parent has a great deal of patience with any child of theirs that is a bit down in the dumps. I, as I have already stated would try and get them to talk about what is making them feel in this way and if they do not want to talk, would let them know that I am there for them if they do ever want a chat etc.

Have you forever fancied having a crack at trying to play the drums?  Well why not give it a try? It is superb fun and can be a great sort of stress relief.  It can also be great for gaining your own back on your parents or ones neighbors!

In order to get going, you’ll require to choose your very first drum kit.  As soon as we all think of drumming, we visualise the great rock bands and artists, with their drummers surrounded by all sizes of drums and cymbals, thrashing out loud unforgettable rhythms.  The simple fact is that you don’t actually require that many drums to get going, in fact a beginner drum kit will simply come with four or five key drums.

A basic set of drums will normally include the following items.  The largest item is going to be the bass drum.  You ought to also get a smaller snare drum, a pair of tom-toms, a rack tom and a floor tom.  As well as the drums themselves, a set will generally also contain hi-hat and crash cymbals.

As a newbie, you really don’t have to have any more kit than that to get started. Only when you have perfected the basics of drumming should you begin to think about buying extra drums. 

Don’t forget, when you see the rock bands we spoke about at the start, their drummers are experts who have practised for many years to achieve the required expertise required for playing larger sets.

Therefore keep your very first drum set to the minimum.  You do not require to commit a whole lot of cash on your first kit, beginner drum setsare going to be more than adequate for getting you started out. And think about it this way, what if you purchase your drums and discover that maybe you are not really a natural after all and give up after a handful of weeks.  When you buy a inexpensive set you’re not risking losing your cash on something that might just sit around accumulating dust! 

So don’t worry about purchasing a named make to begin with, start out simple and if you really get into your drumming, trade your first set in and upgrade them to a named brand like Ludwig.

And keep in mind, don’t purchase a set that comes with drums and cymbals of all shapes and sizes.  Playing the drums is not as simple as it might look to the untrained eye.  Learning the drums requires hours and hours of training and great natural coordination and rhythm.  Therefore begin practising very simple beats using only two or three drums, and after that add components as you go along.

So in the event you do decide to invest your money, you do not have to get the best drum set in the shop, a low cost set is okay for any novice!

there are many companies out there that will take a long hard look at their logo and change it to suit the needs of an audience. This is true of many kids products but the real question that needs to be asked is, are they doing it to make the logo design easier for children or because they know they will get sales as children will recognise the brand.

So many companies adopt this method of havign a simple logo but is there for brand recognition or anything else. I would not say that this is a bad thing because many of the products these companies do actually help children to learn.

LEGO

Lego is one of the biggest brands that is known to kids all over the world, then think of all of the fully grown adults that still use it. Their log is so simple with the Lego name in capitals with a red background. Lego is something that is almost recognised by everyone in the world,., is this what has made them so popular.

Play-Doh

One of the small facts about Play-Doh is that it used to be wallpaper remover until someone spotted children using it to make Christmas decorations then of course it became what we see it as today. 95 million tubs of this stuff are sold every single year but the real amazing thing is that the logo is almost identical to Lego, red background white writing anyone. Seeing any similarities in these logos so far?

Fisher-Price

Another company with another custom logo design and once again you will see the logo with white text and a red background.

Could the reason behind this be that children are able to recognise these colours more than others?

As people get older the colours seem to change and you will not see anything like this when it comes to sports logos or other business ones.