How to Keep Your Children Safe

• Children need lots of loving words and affection. Help your child feel secure.
• Remind your child that most people are kind, nice people. However, there are some with bad behaviors. Encourage your child not to keep any secrets about someone like this.
• Help your child understand he or she can say no to an adult who tells them to do something wrong. Get away from that adult.
• Spend time listening to your child.
• Be aware of who spends time with your child. Get to know them.
• Pay attention to what your child says and does around people, especially if they talk about feeling uncomfortable. Take notice.
• It is okay to tell a secret that is not safe.

Personal Safety

In the third and fourth grade guidance classes students will be learning about personal safety. School guidance programs help children to learn to stay safe from abuse. Sadly, sexual abuse of children takes place more often than we would like to believe. The skills needed to help prevent abuse are taught in a safe and simple manner. Through theses lessons children will learn:

• What the difference is between good touch, bad touch, and secret/confusing touch.
• Who to tell if they are abused.
• Child sexual abuse is not the child's fault.
• Children have a right to privacy and the right to say no to secret touches.
• What are some lures used by child sex offenders.

Please feel free to call me with any questions, 264-5898.

ENJOY

Happy Holidays and have a safe and fun vacation.

Bullying

If your child wants to talk to you about bullying please listen carefully. He or she may feel scared, angry, lonely, sad, or guilty. Help your child talk about their feelings. Let them know that you love them and will help with this problem. The most important thing your child can do is to get help by telling an adult. Praise them for talking to you. Contact teachers or school administrators if you have a concern.
Even if your child does not mention bullying, talk about examples of it on television, in movies, or in books. Help them to recognize bullying. Give them some suggestions to deal with bullying behavior.

• Tell a trusted adult about bullying.
• Tell the person doing the bullying to stop.
• Ask a trusted friend for help.
• Stick with positive friends who help each other.
• Walk away from the situation.
• Avoid people, locations, and situations that may be connected with bullying.

With your support your child will learn the skills needed to stay healthy and help to make their school a safe place for everyone.

Creating Goals and Plans

As adults we can look back on many things we have accomplished, such as getting an education, getting a job, and raising children. Some of the best things we have done happened because we decided what we wanted in life and then worked toward those goals.
Sometimes when we write down our goals it is easier to achieve them. Its important to write goals in a way that makes it clear what you will do and when, in order to achieve your goal.
For example, your child may have the goal of keeping their room clean. Keeping your room clean is a great idea but it is not clearly defined as a goal. The goal becomes specific by stating "I will put my dirty clothes in a hamper and return my books and games to their shelves every night before bedtime." This gives a clear picture of what your child should do and when he or she will do it.
Here are some ideas that may help you in developing goals with your child:

• Describe what the goal is. Make it realistic.
• Set the due date.
• Provide motivation by listing reasons why this goal is important.
• Brainstorm tasks that must be completed to reach the goal.
• Set a due date for each task.
• Track progress
• Make changes in tasks, dates due,if needed.
• Evaluate

Appreciating your Family

As the rush of the winter season begins it is important to remember how much and what we appreciate about each other. This is a fun activity to do at home. Help your child to draw the trunk and the branches of a tree on a large sheet of paper. Display it on a door, a wall, the refrigerator, or a bulletin board. Keep post-it-notes or slips of paper and tape nearby. Tell everyone that this tree needs some leaves. Everyone can tape slips of paper to the tree to add leaves in the next week. Each leaf must have a message on it thanking someone in the family for something he or she did. Younger children could draw a picture and add a smiley face. It is important to recognize the little things that people do as well as the big things. Make sure everyone in the family(including pets) receives some messages about his or her positive behavior.

Listen

In guidance we have been working on the following respectful listening skills:

• Stop what you are doing
• Look at the person speaking
• Be quiet while the person speaks
• Think about what they are saying
• Ask questions, nod your head or make comments on what the person says

Help your child practice these skills at home. Show how you use them in your own life .Praise your child when they listen more respectfully. Let them know you feel like they heard you.

Try this activity in your family to help your child practice listening skills and to build a sense of team work in your family.
Create a regular time to talk. This is a chance to really listen to one another. For some families, meals are good times to talk and listen. Other families find that the hour before your child's bedtime or the hour when everyone has arrived home are the best times. The time you choose  isn't as important as listening to one another. Use this time to share thoughts and feelings about what happened that day or week. Together you can practice the listening skills at the top of this page.