Time is just flying by over here. My two older kids (and Steve) are at Field Day today, and Autumn is at her second to last day ever as a Preschooler!
We've had children in preschool for the last four years straight, and it has been a wonderful preschool experience.
I will always remember listening to Guy and Scarlett singing for the first time "Be Careful Little Ears" what you hear. Precious.
And probably one of the early moments where I started to think seriously about teaching my children how to make good choices about what they see, hear, do, etc.
I was reminded today, as I was being interviewed for an article about teaching children to make wise media choices, of an experience that I had recently with Autumn.
She had come home from a day at preschool where their special visitor, a local police officer, had visited to teach them about gun safety.
There is a national program on gun safety where Eddie the Eagle says, "If you see a gun: Stop! Don't Touch. Leave the area. Tell an adult."
When I came to pick the kids up from school, they were reviewing what they'd learned and doing actions to go with each step. It was the "Stop. Drop. and Roll" of gun safety, and it made me laugh, but I was glad they were learning such important stuff.
Later that week, we were reviewing the "Family Media Checklist" on page 6 of the May 2014 Friend, which asks the question, "What should you do if you see something that makes you uncomfortable" online?
I realized that Autumn's action plan for gun safety would work just as well for safety online or in other venues. I said that we should treat pornographic material--where ever we might encounter it--in much the same way: "Stop! or turn it off. Don't touch (or look at it). Leave the area (or go outside and play something else). Tell an adult or parent!"
Since my daughter had already learned these principles (with actions even) in regard to a firearm, it was easy for her to apply these principles to material she might see online that could be just as harmful to her spirit!
Another resource on this topic, in case you missed it:
I thought you were going to talk about strangers with a gun in school...nowadays that's something to talk about too-unfortunately...
ReplyDeleteAn awesome post as usual; thanks for the ideas. You do need to be proactive in so many of these issues. It is so much harder raising children in your day.
ReplyDeleteBlessings!
I am really interested about teaching gun safety to children. Our olders are well educated. But the youngest 3 have only been shooting bb guns once in their life. I think I am going to check out the websites and maybe for FHE we can go shooting after a lesson.
ReplyDeleteSadly, we don't have to be on the internet to see images that make us uncomfortable, everywhere these days it's walking down the street. What do we tell kids then? I know we shouldn't judge, and I don't want my kids to be judgmental, but we need some kind of strategy.
ReplyDeleteLook people in the eyes is always good advice! :)
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