Got a kid going back to school? Great! PICS OR IT DIDN’T HAPPEN.
The first-day-of-school photo has become a social media milestone marked by what probably seems like every single parent in your news feed. While taking photos of kids as they head off to school is nothing new (although we might cringe at our 1990s puffer jackets, bad bangs, and neon “Saved By The Bell” backpacks immortalized in our own parents’ photo albums), social media has taken the trend to new heights.
For the record, we are 100 per cent all for it. Spam those newsfeeds, parents! You can and should be proud of your kid’s achievements, and your own in keeping that child alive and thriving for another year.
But for the love of god, don’t delay traffic in your efforts to get those “likes.” That’s what happened in the Niagara region of Ontario Tuesday, where school officials say one bus route to school was delayed by 30 minutes, and several others by 10 to 20 ... thanks in part to parents taking pics at bus stops.
WATCH: How to take perfect back-to-school pics. Story continues below.
“It’s a lot of parents and drivers greeting each other — but also the photo opportunities,” Lori Ziraldo, executive director of Niagara Student Transportation Services, told The Welland Tribune.
Oopsies.
School-bus safety should come before pics
Now, not only is capturing that perfect “Look at my big boy getting on the bus!” pic evidently holding up traffic in some areas, it’s not exactly the safest option. Getting on and off school buses and crossing the street is already a major safety concern for kids.
“It’s a great photo op for the parents as a memory, but we always mention, to keep the roads safe and keep the area safe, to take the pictures at the home, when the kids are leaving,” Const. Chuck Benoit of the Ottawa Police Service told HuffPost Canada.
If you do take a school bus or transportation pic, stay out of the way of traffic and keep the kids close to a building or on property, Benoit said.
There were no reported issues of photos holding up buses in Ottawa, he added.
Check out these first day of school photo ideas. Story continues below.
In the U.S., 17,000 children are treated in hospital emergency rooms each year for injuries associated with school buses, according to Standford Children’s Health. About 19 kids are killed each year just getting on and off the bus, usually because they are struck by other vehicles or the bus itself, the hospital noted.
The Vancouver Police Department launched a back-to-school road-safety campaign Tuesday, noting that with so many young pedestrians on the road, it is everyone’s responsibility to drive carefully, responsibly, and “free from distractions at all times.”
That should probably include adorable pics.