You’ve spent the past two weeks scouring stores and hunting down everything your kids will need to go back to school. They have a wardrobe of snazzy new clothes to hit their new class fresh, comfy running shoes for another year of exploring, and even some new backpacks (even though the old ones were still perfectly fine). You’ve got new water bottles, lunch bags, ice packs, and have stocked up on enough granola bars and recess snacks to feed a small army (so it will last your kids roughly a week and a half). You’re ready for the new school year.

There is just one last back to school essential to shop for – student accident insurance.

While not as fun as multi-coloured pens and psychedelic binders, student accident insurance should be on the top of your shopping list this back to school season. Kids get into accidents. It’s part of growing up. Each year, over 1.5 million children sustain injuries of all sorts, large and small. Those odds only increase if your child is involved with any kind of recreational sport or extracurricular activity. We all collect a few scrapes, dings, and injuries when we’re young, sooner or later.

But, while the occasional trip to the ER for some stitches might be a fairly normal part of growing up, the expenses of those accidents can still be shocking. Depending on what kind of treatment your child needs, those bills can exceed the benefits of your government or group insurance plans, or fall outside of their purview. Even a minor injury can become a major financial liability without the proper protection.

Say your daughter chips a tooth playing field hockey. OHIP doesn’t cover dental services, so if your group plan only provides partial coverage or less, you could be easily looking at over $1000 in dental work. One small chip thanks to an errant stick or a bad bounce of the ball can become a serious burden. Let’s be real, losing a grand out of the budget isn’t something that can be easily absorbed for most families. But with student accident insurance, you’re protected from that unfortunate possibility.

Student accident insurance doesn’t stop at protecting your family’s financial well-being in the case of an injury, it’s also about maintaining quality of life and normalcy. Tutoring benefits can keep your child up-to-date with their studies if an injury prevents them from attending class for over 30 days. The package can even include the cost of rental equipment and programs to facilitate those studies. Injuries are tough for kids to deal with as it is. They don’t need the stress of coming back to class and feeling behind their peers and overwhelmed by the amount of catch-up they have in front of them on top of everything else.

If your child is injured while on a trip out of the province (on a school trip or a sports event for example), out-of-province emergency medical protection will ensure that they will have access to whatever medical assistance they need, wherever they are. This benefit can cover everything from the cost of an alternative ambulance service (airlift, etc) for up to $1000, to the costs of splints, crutches, and braces. A great peace of mind for any parent nervous about their child traveling.

Send your kids back to school this year knowing they have a safety net under them. For a price that costs less per month than one of those new backpacks they insisted on, you can make sure that your family is protected financially, physically, and emotionally for any of life’s dings and scrapes to come. It’s the most important preparation you’ll take this back to school season.