When you’re a parent, it’s normal to worry about your child’s well-being.

When they’re at home, you can watch them, and at school, teachers can monitor them. But what do you do about the bus ride to and from school some children make Monday through Friday?

Fortunately for concerned parents, the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department took a step in the fight against gang membership in middle school children Monday morning by giving a seminar at Southeast Middle School on warning signs bus drivers should look for while transporting students to and from school.

“They study this more than school,” said Deputy Ricardo Clayton. “It becomes their religion.”

Clayton went over various behaviors men and women of all ages show during gang initiation and participation. He stressed that students of all ages are being affronted by occurrences of gang operations and subsequent violence.

Clayton discussed how children and adults begin to identify themselves ubiquitously, and that once they are a part of it, death is usually the only way out.

“It becomes a part of them,” Clayton said. “They become a part of it.”

Clayton said children can find gang membership attractive, because the organizations can “cover their basic needs.” These needs include membership in a greater whole and respect gained from fear, as well as joining a lucrative trade.

School officials hope the training will help parents rest a little easier knowing the men and women who ferry their children to school and back are that much more equipped to deal with gang problems before they ever arise.