Children Survival Skills

If you go to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) there are videos that can help. They cover many areas of safety and have games and such that educate children based on their age group. My husband works with this organization from time to time and they have had speakers come in that have given safety tips that are just awesome. Their whole existance is to keep children safe! I hope you can find what you need!

D.:
The best way to handle this is to give them a scenario and have them tell you what they would do instead of you telling them what could happen. This way they can visualize situations.

Example: If the person pulls up and wants you to help look for a lost dog what would you do?

9 & 7 are still too young for the puberty talk. Wait a little longer.

THESE books are timeless resources you can read with them, anticipate their questions and discuss it without being uncomfortable! All by by Stan and Brenda Jones. We re-read them anytime she has questions!!

Age 3-5 is Book 1 The Story of Me

Age 5-8 is Book 2 Before I Was Born

Age8-11 is Book 3 What's the Big Deal

Age 11-14 is Book 4 Facing the Facts

NEST puts out a Yellow Dino series that teach children about "tricky people". They use songs to remember what to do. They have one for under 8 and 8 and up. Check them out!

I have this same problem and have realized that they won't fully understand until they are older. I mean did I really understand as a child fully? This is why I am one of those fully involved overprotective moms. I am not suggesting hovering over but we as mothers have a responsiblity to keep our children safe. Keep a close eye on them. My son is 9 and going into the 4th grade and he still isn't permitted to play around the neighborhood unsupervised. Some may call this crazy but I will not ever have regrets about not doing enough. I understand and you need to understand that we can only do so much and then you have to hope and pray that God has His hand in their lives also. Keep open communication with them and never make them feel as if they can't talk to you about anything. This way when they feel uncomfortable you can be sure they won't be afraid to talk to you.

Here in Statesboro they have a free program called Kidz n Power at the taekwondo school every once in a while. My sons take taekwondo and in addition to learning martial arts moves, they teach the children self defense and talk about what to do in those types of situations. What is even better than that is that they practice it as well during class, that way it comes naturally and they don't have to stand there and think it out. It has not made my sons more aggressive at all by the way. It helps with their listening, focusing and manners as well.

Cub Scouts has age appropriate material for those who are Cub Scout age (Kindergarten-6 and up). It is a section in the front of all of their books (Tiger Cub is kindergarten, Wolf is 1st grade, and Bear is 2nd grade.) You can probably find copies at the library to check out one for free. Also they have a DVD available to purchase at your local Boy Scout store if you'd rather watch the information with your child. (I haven't seen the DVD myself though--the book was enough information for us.)

Good luck.

We used the Bearinstein Bears " Stranger Danger video for our younger children, it is old, but I am sure they still have it somewhere. It is about brother bear going to the park and talking to a man flying a kite. Sister bear tells that he talked to a stranger. (FYI the second episode is about them going to a fortune teller, we cut that one out). We are careful to explain that ANYONE can give you that OH-Oh feeling and they need to tell us. My husband works with teenagers and NONE of them were offended by a stranger, but by someone they knew. Also a friend just recommended to me the American Girl book for girls about caring for your changing body. It covered lots of general hygiene issues into periods and changing shapes. Hope that gets you started

Whoa D.! You have your hands full... good for you! The safeside video is a good tool and to me, it doesn't matter how old they are. Be honest to them but remember to not get into details of what actually may happen. Mine are two and five and I always remind them of where it is not a good place for anyone to touch them at and what they should do if someone does. My two year old daughter is not good with strangers and lucky for me, she really does not like being around any guys except her daddy. Good Luck!

For strangers - There is a great book "The Spider & the Fly" illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi of the poem by Mary Howitz.

We used it to introduce the danger of strangers to our daughter. The illustrations are fantastic, and the poem is a good lesson on danger with a great letter from the spider at the end of the book that makes it pretty cut & dry.

there is a movie about stranger safety that i see advertized on tv every now and again. I wonder if I can google it and send you the info. It looks kid friendly

I don't know about movies but try the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children - they have a bunch of stuff for all ages boys and girls and a great section for preteen girls. The website is www.missingkids.com, I think - if that is not it - google - the stuff is downloadable for free and is great for scouts or brownies etc.

You should try to find the video out by John Walsh of America's most wanted and the lady that created Baby Einstein. John Walsh lost his 5 year old son to an abductor and spends a lot of resources and efforts to educate families on dangers of strangers to prevent future tradgedies of his type. Also you could try to google.com. I can almost always find what I need. I am a nurse and I know that in NC where I live at many hospitals and DSS you can get involved in support groups and programs dealing with deaths, rapes, etc. Hope this helps some. L. G

john walsh and julie clark did a great dvd for children. go to www.thesafeside.com to check it out. i got it when my daughter was 4 and she loved it. still watches it now and she's 7. amazon.com has great age appropriate books about puberty, you can search and find some great things.

good luck

The same woman who created the Baby Einstein series has also put out videos about being safe. I think it is called Safeside. She also put one out about being safe on the Internet. They are great! I ordered them when I realized that my six year old daughter had no qualms about talking to strangers!