Throughout this year in our Guidance Lessons, classes have been working on topics such as identifying feelings, handling anger, and being patient with ourselves and others. Our next unit will be covering Personal and Stranger Safety. Our goal will be to educate our students about their own physical and emotional safety with regards to adults and other children. These topics will be age appropriate and handled with sensitivity.
These lessons have been formed through research of what other international school programs cover, some information from The Safe Side program, a heaping spoonful of AISB parent input, and a sprinkle of common sense.
Here are some of the topics we will be covering;
Safe Adults, Don’t Knows & Kinda Knows
Students will explore categories of strangers that they might encounter in their life. We will discuss what a stranger is: in it’s simplest form it is someone they do not know.
We will talk about the difference between adults we trust (Safe Adults), adults that we recognize or “kinda know” (Kinda Knows), and adults that are unfamiliar to us (Don’t Knows). We will touch briefly on the importance of staying close to your Safe Adults while in public and what they can do to let a stranger know that they do not want to be near them.
Parent TIP :
This can be a very sensitive topic, but we will be talking to students in very general terms and we will be using a coloring book called “Good Touch, Bad Touch” that your child will bring home so that you can review it together.
Here are the topics we will cover together;
Parent TIP:
Safe and Unsafe Secrets
This week we will talk about a topic that is often confusing for children. They are sometimes told that keeping a secret is ok, but then they also hear that they should not ever keep a secret from Mom and Dad. In their young minds, this can be hard to differentiate. We will talk together about what is a Safe Secret: something that makes you and everyone else happy, and what is an Unsafe Secret: something that makes you feel uncomfortable or sad or is scary to you.
Parent TIP:
These lessons have been formed through research of what other international school programs cover, some information from The Safe Side program, a heaping spoonful of AISB parent input, and a sprinkle of common sense.
Here are some of the topics we will be covering;
Safe Adults, Don’t Knows & Kinda Knows
Students will explore categories of strangers that they might encounter in their life. We will discuss what a stranger is: in it’s simplest form it is someone they do not know.
We will talk about the difference between adults we trust (Safe Adults), adults that we recognize or “kinda know” (Kinda Knows), and adults that are unfamiliar to us (Don’t Knows). We will touch briefly on the importance of staying close to your Safe Adults while in public and what they can do to let a stranger know that they do not want to be near them.
Parent TIP :
- Work together to make a list of Safe Adults / Kinda Knows / and determine what would make a person a Don’t Know.
- We also encourage families to have a Safety Word – which is a word that just belongs to your family that can be used if someone out of the ordinary needs to pick up your child. Only people who know the safety word are safe to go with!
This can be a very sensitive topic, but we will be talking to students in very general terms and we will be using a coloring book called “Good Touch, Bad Touch” that your child will bring home so that you can review it together.
Here are the topics we will cover together;
- Safe Touches – These are friendly touches that make you feel comfortable and safe. They are touches that are good for you and may include hugging, doctor check ups, or a snuggle from a Safe Adult.
- Unsafe Touches – These are touches that may hurt your body or your feelings. This may include kicking, pushing, or touching private parts (described as parts of your body covered by a swimsuit).
- Unwanted Touches – Some of these may be defined as Safe Touches, but the child does not want to be touched at that moment. This may include a hug from a student who is not a close friend.
Parent TIP:
- Ask to see their coloring book and go over it together.
- Review these categories of touches with your child and see if they can give you examples of each kind.
- Remind your child that you are always ready and willing to hear whatever they need to tell you and you will never be upset or disappointed in them if they tell you the truth.
Safe and Unsafe Secrets
This week we will talk about a topic that is often confusing for children. They are sometimes told that keeping a secret is ok, but then they also hear that they should not ever keep a secret from Mom and Dad. In their young minds, this can be hard to differentiate. We will talk together about what is a Safe Secret: something that makes you and everyone else happy, and what is an Unsafe Secret: something that makes you feel uncomfortable or sad or is scary to you.
Parent TIP:
- This is a great opportunity to talk with your children once again about this topic.
- Make sure they are very clear that they can tell you ANYTHING and if they ever have a question about what is a Safe or Unsafe Secret, they can ask you to make sure.
- They will bring home a sheet to help understand which secrets are Safe and Unsafe. Work through this together and continue your discussion.