Child safety program teaches kids how to help
themselves...
By Nancy
Miller
Imagine your child is walking home from school when they are
approached by someone in a car who stops and asks
them for directions. Would he or she know what
to do? Or maybe they are home alone and hear a
very loud noise. Would they know what to do?
What if you are late picking up your child from
school? Would they know what to do?
Would you? Have you taken the time to
establish safety protocols or have these discussions
as a family.
These are some of the "what-if" scenarios that are presented in
a booklet from Street Smart Kidz, a new child safety
program offered to Comox Valley youth between the
ages of 10 and 14. The educational workshop is
designed to give kids safety strategies and options,
as well as make them think about alternatives when
they are about to take a course of action that may
not be the safest.
"In today's society it is important that children think about
safety. We want them to realize what the
repercussions of their actions, such as running
away, could be and what their alternative could be,"
says Steven Baird, the managing director of the
program, which has been up and running for almost a
year.
In establishing the safety education program, Baird got input
from the RCMP, the Ontario Provincial Police and the
San Diego Highway Patrol ( the "Chippies"). He
also found some help from the St. Joseph's Hospital
Foundation and the Polly Klaas Foundation, named in
honour of 12 year old Polly Klaas, who was abducted
from her bedroom in California in 1993 and later
murdered.
And then he got support of some local business people, such as
Dr, Kirsten Emmitt and John Challender, and was able
to offer this non-profit program at no charge to
Comox Families.
The first section of the booklet has to do with identification,
including photos, a fingerprint chart, information
on obtaining hair samples for DNA and a form to be
filled out at home by the child and parent.
"We also have a package that we give to parent for kids that
are under the age of 10 and it is a cool little ID
kit that parent take away and they get to go home
and do it with their kids. As an RCMP member
will tell you that if, God forbid, anything was to
happen to a child, these kits with all the
information, fingerprints, updated photos, etc.,
really give them a flying head start in trying to
find a child."
The next part of the booklet covers safety tips for parents,
babysitters and the child being babysat. The
topics covered include guidelines on finding and
hiring a sitter, certain information and protocols
that should be explained to the sitter, safety tips,
as well as a form with emergency numbers, contacts
and directions to the home, etc., that can be posted
next to the phone.
Then there is a section on how to be safe when online.
"Internet safety is a huge topic right now," says
Baird. "The internet has caused a number of
problems. As well as being a wonderful tool
for all of us in our daily lives, it has become a
new territory for predators. And I think this
has to be addressed."...
...In addition to offering advice on internet safety, Baird
also discusses places kids should not go online.
Why they should not share their identity, why they
shouldn't post their picture and why they shouldn't
give out their social insurance number....
..."One parent said to me the best part of this is that they
now have topics to discuss on Sunday night.
They all have dinner together and they make time to
talk about these things. It's just as much a
parent learning program as it is for kids."...
Since the program started last year the response has been
extremely positive. So far they have had more
that 300 kids go through the program, with about
that many on the waiting list. "We are
trying to deal with that and working on the parents
getting the course information and doing it
themselves until they get to the top of the list and
into the course....
..."Parents love it, they keep referring people, friends,
relatives - that is why it keeps growing.
* this article contains excerpts from the original
article printed in the June/July 2007 edition of
InFocus Magazine
