DEAR ABBY: My son volunteers as a chaperone for his daughters' elementary school field trips. Each parent volunteer is assigned five or six children.
Before they board the bus, my son gathers his group and tells them they are going to take a memory picture. He does it because if a child is ever lost, he wants a photo to immediately show any responding police officers. His exact words to me were, "Mom, in an emergency, I might not remember what a child was wearing, what her backpack looked like or how tall she is."
He never tells the children the real reason for taking the picture. Afterward, he just emails it to any child who wants a souvenir of the trip. -- PROUD OF MY SON
DEAR PROUD: Congratulations for having raised a smart son. My readers will let us know if his idea is original, but it's a good one, which is why I'm printing your letter. For anyone supervising a group of children, this could be a helpful suggestion.