Jenny - your the winner LOL! Jenny noticed that my new kitchen clock has two sets of the numeral three, rather than a three and a four - that's why it was such a good price LOL!
It appears I have a few lurkers on my blog (and your very welcome lurkers!). After my post letting people know that if they wanted to email me with children queries then I'd be happy to answer. Well that's worked well - I've had a number of emails, most were quite individualised and so I replied by email rather than on my blog. However 'Sue' asked how you teach your child stranger danger - and I thought that might be a good topic to share on here. If it's of no interst skip the next couple of paragraphs...
If you look at the sad statistics, generally the world over, children (and adults for that matter) are in over ninety percent of cases, abused, abducted and killed by those they know. These are their parents, family members and friends of the family - not strangers. The media love to report al the horrible sad and sick news, but for a huge number of children life is great. They are loved, they are cared for and have a truly great life.
As a parent you trust your instincts - when your child is sick, when your child is injured (ain't that the truth Mich!), everytime you go outside you are making judgement calls on the world around you...should we cross the road here, now...etc. This has all come through experience and observing your wider world. These are skills you empower your children with. You do this everyday - each time you point out that someone didn't leave that shopping trolley in a good place did they...there's the McDonalds sign (and then they start pointing this out way before you see it LOL!), oh look at those black clouds, I think it's going to rain...all this teaches your child to be aware of their wider surroundings. When your reading to your child ask them how the character might be feeling - this helps them to make those links between facial expressions and the feelings 'inside', ask them about what they would do in that characters situation...this is when you can share some other solutions to what the character could do...You get the picture.
Remember you instinctively know when something just doesn't feel right - this is what your children, with time will learn.
If you still want to teach about strangers, then most public libraries will have a copy of kits that are of great use - and older one, but still a goodie, is Amazing Me - which was done through the NZ police, I can't remember who else LOL and Suzy Cato was narrating it. There is a new kit that came out last year but I don't know if this would have made it into the library system yet.
And just one last little hint - if at all possible don't write your child's name on the outside of their school bag. This gives someone the opportunity to say 'hey Johnny, Mum asked me to pick you up and drop you home' - 'that person knew my name, therefore it must be okay' however they had got the name off the bag as they drove past...teach your child their phone number - most four year olds are well capable of remembering this and proud to do so. Teach them some safety rules - that cross each situation preferably - and by this I mean, if you teach them that if they ever lose sight of you they go to the person where you paid the money to is (or whatever fits for you), then it doesn't matter if they are at the zoo or at the supermarket - they will look for the person at the checkout, that way they don't have one 'rule' that they need to remember instead of a different bunch for each different situation.
Now Janine are having a bit of a weird food challenge going on...this weekend I'm off to the movies to get popcorn and an incream and then I have to dip my ice cream in the popcorn to eat. Apparently it's delish,...she's going to dip her McDonalds (or similar) chips, into her ice cream sundae, now c'mon I'm sure everyone has done that LOL! So what's your weird food thing then? Share...we could write a book, my sister suggested 'Don't knock it, till you've tried it' would be an appropriate title...
Yahoo, it's Friday, so best I get off to work...
10 comments:
Thast great advice there Trace as usual. Love the title of the book (your sister is clever), maybe she could write it lol. I will be using McDoanlds fries and thinking possibly a caramel sundae as opposed to a chocolate one?? Mike has been warned lol.
Yep my kids do the chips in ice cream thing ... the sauce don't matter! ... I like tartare sauce on snitzel? ok not that weird ... but I tried.
Great advice Trace - as usual!
Yep, I remember dipping my fries in my sundae (or ice cream) at McDs. Haven't done it for about 15 years though, LOL!
I don't think I have any really weird food things ... my sister and I used to have sugar & cinnamon on toast, but I don't think that's terribly weird, just very bad for your teeth!
Excellent! Absolutely brilliant, Trace!
Love the way you write (reminds me of the Grants. We don't want to build up unnecessary fears/phobias in our kids. So don't want fearful kids! But we want to teach them like you have described here.
Thanks so much again, Trace. xx
Oh, yeah, we never had McD's growing up, we were a Georgie Pie family. My siblings and I would always dip our french fries in our sundaes, and one brother would dip his fries in his chocolate thickshake, lol. It's a must, hee hee!
Oh yeah, another strange combo - my Dad would sometimes sprinkle sugar on his tomatoes. Said it made them taste like strawberries. Never tried it myself.
Even with one at 18 am still going over the stranger danger with her - safety in numbers and all that.
We always have tomato sauce on cheese on toast. In fact tomato sauce goes on an awful lot of things in our house! LOL. I draw the line at having it on the table when its a roast dinner though.
Great tips Trace! Yes best to trust those instincts re injuries - LOL! Finn is doing well, such a trooper, hasn't complained once about the cast :)
Ta for sharing and I love the go to the person mummy paid that is GREAT and like you say one rule fits all then - one other thing was if you are in a place where the child may get lost write your cell number on their arm, do you think this would be okay, it is so hard to think thru the pros and cons of everything, but thank you so much for the sound advice!!! Esp for me the worry wort
Okay true confession here and nope this was way before I got pregnant, I like chocolate biscuits wrapped in luncheon sausage, only for the brave out there amoung you LOL but honestly I like this. Oh and lemon juice and tomato sauce on schnitzel - my brother started that one, and TW Carl swears by sugar on tomatoes too and he is a chef so your dad was on to something. :)
xox
It's the maths teacher, Trace, spotting those Roman numerals lol!
I agree with everything you've said about "stranger" danger. My boys still have the rule - if you go somewhere else, tell me AND stay together. This was the rule from hen they were much younger and ould play with the other kids in the neighbourhood
No - I can't say that I like any of those food mixtures, however, tomatoes grilled with a drizzle of honey are delicious. Oh, that reminds me - I do like a fried or paoched egg on toast but the toast must have apricot jam on it!
Great title! Yep, very helpful info there - such a scary world sometimes.
Ewwwww to the whole food thing! I like my food straight, thanks!
I forgot my moro and it melted into my hot chips, my friend and i were so hungry we ate them and it was ummm rather nice and we still eat them like that when we are feeling silly, but go you on the icecream and popcorn lol :o)
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