Kids wearing reflective vests

[tessie1]

Wondering, do your kids wear reflective vest on school outings ?

In my kids school, it is a basic rule for all kids under 8, but after 8 it is only on parents choice and it seems that very few parents have their kids still wear one, and my daughter complains that she has to wear one

no they don't

but then they don't go out in the dark with school .. so really there's not much point is there

I mean, it's hard to miss an entire class of children and adult helpers out and about

I'd complain if I was your daughter too ... particularly if it's not compulsory .. sorry

I just asked ds2 and he said no, never.

They have a policy in school of doing lots of walking, so any trips up to 2 miles away they will walk there and back. I don't think they would walk at dusk though, and certainly not when it's dark.

I have a vague memory of the school having been given some reflective vests a few years back, but ds2 says he's never seen them

No, but they have to wear their school sweatshirts, which are bright red.

always and as a child was knocked over at school on Wednesday it is no bad thing......

No, but all children do when they walk from the breakfast club which is at another nearby school.

Ours do, they wear them for school trips, also on the walking bus. They were donated by some charity.

Round here there are often roads without pavements, including the ones the school children walk along, so it does make some sense.

It's not just an issue for primary school children. Two of mine are at secondary school, and one is in P7 (final year primary in Scotland). They all cycle to and from school, and now it's getting lighter later in the mornings and darker earlier at night, I want them to be as visible as possible.

No3 cycles mainly off road to get to school, No1 has a black jacket with reflective stripes on it, but we haven't found one of these for No2 yet, so he's wearing his dad's Altura dayglo yellow jacket - but he tells me if he's seen in it at school, he'll get the p**s taken out of him!! What do senior school kids think is soo uncool about not wanting to be run over, ffs!!!

I think it's a good idea if the chn are going to be walking near a road. Daylight can be dim and grey and chn are unpredictable. It's not a big deal to wear one surely?

Devil's advocate here:

IS there a possibility that in putting these hi-viz vests on DCs they lose an opportunity to develop better traffic judgement? As they say, drive at 80 on a motorway, then undo your seatbelt and watch how quickly you slow your speed right down!

Is sticking a hi viz vest on everyone (we've all seen them on municipal park workers, hand-weeding flower beds, haven't we?) reducing their impact for when they're really needed such as motorway workers/police etc?

Just a couple of thoughts.

no gaussgirl - my dcs wear them for cycling and they develop better traffic judgement because they get to watch the traffic going by or round them - not bumping into them!

I agree, Lurker - it's not just about whether our kids are behaving sensibly when they are out walking/riding - it's about making them as visible as possible so that drivers can see them!

When I first started driving in the evenings/poor light, it amazed me how invisible pedestrians and cyclists can be - even in town on a lit street. If you are wearing dark clothing, it can be very difficult to see you at all - which gives the driver no chance to notice you are there and make sure they take care.

I read something really interesting about hi vis a while ago, aparantly people wearing it can easily break into a house/ shoplift from an outdoor display as people actually notice them less.

The mentality of 'it's just a workman'.

I can see how that would happen, TheWoman - does make me wonder if all those kids in hi-vis vests are really on school trips, or are our teachers becoming latter-day Fagins to boost their incomes??

If you do want some - IKEA sell some rather natty ones in pink, green & yellow!

TheWomanWhoAteTraffic - my comment was aimed at kids walking to school, not for robbers

I bought dd a coat with thick strips of reflective in in that glows up in the dark, because it just looks silver she hasnt noticed

I work in a school and cycle to and from work. Several of the Year 10s have declared the flashing red light on my rucksac as cool and have asked where I got it so they can buy one.
I don't know whether other kids might deem it as ok? It's worth a try. It's just an old bike light on the flashing setting attached to the zip of my bag with a keyring.

I send mine with theirs when they're doing Walk Once A Week, but tbh I'm a bit precious about it anyway as we live on a farm, and even if they're on their bikes in daylight I have them wear them just as an additional 'I'm here, don't drive over me' safeguard.

Our school only has thirty pupils, though, so they're pretty receptive to individual parents' foibles .