Awareness

Set up the expectation for your session and also see if any of the children may require more work than others. Use this time to establish your authority and control over the class.

WARM UP AND CONTROL PHASE

Example Exercise:

“When I say go, I want you to run on the spot as fast as you can. When I clap my hands, I’m going to tell you who managed to stop the quickest and stand like a statue”.

Repeat a few times. This is getting the children used to listening and watching you, so they react quickly. It's also the parents first chance to see how quickly you can take control of the children. IT"S VERY IMPORTANT!

Jumping jacks. This is to get the children used to the noisy environment and start them using their voices.

“This is what a jumping jack looks like. See if you can keep with me and we are going to do 10 together seeing if we can count louder with each one.”

 

STRANGERS

What is a Stranger?

Unfortunately, you cannot tell simply by looking at a stranger whether they are safe or unsafe. If you ask a child what a “bad” stranger looks like, they will give you a myriad of different answers: they smell funny, they are ugly, they look evil, or they wear a mask.

Many child predators often succeed because they do not look a certain way that seems threatening to the child. Plus, if the predator starts a conversation with the child and is friendly, then the predator becomes someone who, in the child’s mind, is no longer a stranger.

Q. So, who can tell me what is a stranger?

A. A stranger is someone you don’t know.

Q.  So, what does a stranger look like? Are they friendly or scary? Pretty or ugly?

Let the children come out with all the stereotypes. Criminals are robbers, ugly, they take you away, they have guns, etc.

“So, let me check. Before you came here today, you didn’t know me, so I was a stranger. Am I scary? Big? Ugly? etc.”

“So, a stranger is just someone you do not know. Most strangers are nice people but there are some strangers who may not be nice. You can’t tell just by looking at them though.”

 

You can use the example that all dogs may look nice, but you don’t know if they will be just by looking at them.

 

Ask Some Example Questions.

"If someone you didn’t know asked you to go with them, would your mom or dad want you to go with them?

What if they offered to give you some money? Would your mom or dad want you to go with them?” If a stranger asks you to do something that your mom or dad would not want you to, are they a safe stranger? No!

If a stranger asks you to go somewhere with them, without checking with your parents, are they a safe stranger? No!

If a stranger asks you to take something without asking your mom or dad, are they a safe stranger? No!

If a stranger tries to make you do something you don’t want to do, are they a safe stranger? No!

So, you see, you can tell a bad stranger by what they try to ask you to do.

But think about your friends. Before they were your friends, what where they? That's right. They were strangers. So most people are good strangers. We have to go through life meeting new people and making new friends. But adults know some things. Adults know that they shouldn't ask children for help.

So our biggest rule is that Adults should only ask other adults for help.

So if an adult you don't know asks you for help, is it ok to move away and check first. Absolutely, that's a brilliant idea."

“Do you remember that I said most people are good strangers?

I am thinking of some good strangers right now. Let’s see if you can guess who I am thinking of.

If my house was on fire, I might need a ? That’s right, a fireman. Now that person could be a stranger, but could they help me?

If my friend fell over and broke their arm, I might need to call? The ambulance.

If someone tried to take me and I got to a safe place, I could call? The Police.

What if I was in a shopping mall and I couldn’t find my mommy? Who could I find? That’s right. I would go to the shop and find someone in a uniform who is working at the checkout.

If there are no shops a good choice would be to go to a mom with children.”

AWARENESS

"Awareness is knowing what is happening around you.

When you drove here what did you see?

What buildings or shops?

What is the color of the building that we are in now?

Without looking what color is that object behind you? etc.

You see, to have good awareness, you have to look at things, maybe more than you normally would. So if you need help you might be able to remember some of the places that you saw so that someone can find you and help you."

 

DESCRIPTIONS

Using an audience member bring them out to the front of the class and get the children to describe him/her. Lead the children to the answers.

How tall is he? - Bigger or smaller than me?

How would you describe his hair? - Long short, black, brown, bald, facial hair, beard, wearing a cap, etc.

What is he wearing?

Upper body - Long sleeve, short sleeve, singlet, coat, shirt, etc.

Lower body - Long pants, shorts, leggings, what color, etc.

Shoes - Sneakers, boots, sandals, coloring, etc.

Distinguishing features - Tattoos, piercings, etc.

Did you notice anything else?

 

Then get the volunteer to hide and the children have to describe what they remember.

Bring the volunteer back out and re-enforce what they got right and remind them what they may have missed.

INTUITION

 “When you get scared, your body wants to help you. It sends lots of different messages to you. Some of them you will only feel when you get scared.

You may also get that feeling about a person, place, or situation that you can’t quite explain, but it makes you feel uncomfortable. It’s like an early warning system.

Imagine a deer in the woods. If it senses that it’s in danger, or that there is danger nearby, it doesn’t hang around. Instead, it bolts immediately to safety.

One of the most important things your intuition does is warn you about danger and help protect you from it. So, when we get that feeling of discomfort in our body, it is our body’s way of saying, “Stop and pay attention.” So, we listen to it every time, because it’s trying to help us.

ADERENALINE

Who's ever been scared? It makes your body feel strange doesn't it? That was your body’s way of saying, “Here you go, here’s some extra energy for you so that you can do a good job.” We call that extra energy ‘adrenaline’. 

Adrenaline sends signals to your body because it wants you to perform as well as possible. Adrenaline makes your heart beat faster so that your muscles get blood and adrenaline pumped to them more quickly, which means that you can run faster or kick harder. 

Think of it like a fire alarm. An alarm can help protect us when there is an actual fire and just like a smoke alarm, adrenaline can be helpful when it’s working right, and you know how to use it properly.

There are three ways that someone can react when they feel this adrenaline burst happening.

First, they can freeze, because they aren’t able to think properly, or they just want the danger to pass.

Second, they may try to run away to avoid certain situations

Or third, they may get angry and want to fight.

We want you to get REALLY good at running away. If you do need to fight, guess what. Adrenaline can be like a super power if you know how to use it.

If you do get scared, a really good way of helping is to breathe deeply. That will help remind you what you need to do.

Let’s all take a few deep breathes together. See how that helps?”