Personal Safety Week

This was a post I started earlier this summer but never finished writing...oops.  Things got super busy...



After some headlines earlier this summer, I decided to take a week and go over personal safety with the kids.  We talked a bit about fire safety and things like that, but mostly we talked about what to do with strangers and personal body safety.

Honestly?  I was not looking forward to addressing this topic with my kids, but I'm really glad I did and many of these books made it a lot easier.  I decided to post a list here for anyone else who might be looking for good books on the subject.

Hope this helps!

Bethany


Books About Strangers:
Not Everyone Is Nice: Helping Children Learn Caution With Strangers by Frederick Alimonti and Ann Tedesco, Ph.D.
This book was one that both kids requested a couple of times.  It was about a little girl who is approached at school by a stranger wanting to drive her home and tells how her parents talked to her about it.  It also made the point very well that most strangers are nice people, but it's the few bad ones that cause us to be cautious, and you can't really tell who is who.

Who Is A Stranger and What Should I Do?  by Linda Walvoord Girard
This was a great book that I have considered adding to our permanent library.  It gives all different scenarios of where kids might be confronted by strangers and tells them how to handle them.  It's clearly written and easily understood.

The Berenstain Bears Learn About Strangers by Stan Berenstain
Normally, I'm not a HUGE fan of the Berenstain Bears books, but this one was good in introducing the concept of "stranger danger" to both of my kids.  Both of them actually asked to read it a few different times.  In it, friendly Little Sister was learning all about strangers and how to deal with them.  It was very good for my kids and they both enjoyed reading it!

Bobby and Mandee's Too Safe for Strangers by Robert Kahn
This book was really clear about what to do with strangers and jumped right into it without much beating around the bush.  I would recommend it as a go-along with the others here.

Once Upon A Dragon: Stranger Safety for Kids (and Dragons) by Jean E. Pendziwol and Martine Gourbault
My kids love these dragon safety books, so I knew this would be a winner when I found it at the library.  This one was particularly enjoyable and followed the child and their friend the dragon as they imagined they were in a nursery tale story book and the dragon tried to follow various strangers (the big bad wolf, the fox from the Gingerbread Man story, the old woman from Hansel & Gretel, etc.).  The child had to convince the dragon each time not to go because they were strangers and finally at the end they escape the story book and end up back on the playground.


Books About Good Touch/Bad Touch:

Some Parts Are Not For Sharing by Julie K. Frederico
This book is great, though very basic and probably better for the younger crowd.  Both my kids liked it and in fact my 2 yr old requested to read it several times.  It illustrates very well that some parts of our bodies are used for good touch and others should be kept to ourselves.

Your Body Belongs To You by Cornelia Spelman
This is another good book for the younger crowd.  Again, my 2 yr old seemed to get more out of this one than some of the others, but my six yr old still found it interesting too.

My Body Belongs To Me by Jill Starishevsky
This one was about a small child who had a family friend touch them inappropriately and how they dealt with it.  It was simply written and not my favorite of the books we checked out, but was easily understood by my 2 yr old.  If you choose to get this one, be sure to read it first to see how you feel about it.

Bobby and Mandee's Good Touch Bad Touch by Robert S. Kahn
This was a really good book for describing good touches and bad touches and was very clear in what one should do if they are ever confronted with a bad touch type situation.  After reading this one, both my kids were able to tell me clearly what they should do.

I Said No: A kid-to-kid guide to keeping private parts private by Zack and Kimberly King
This one was very comprehensive and definitely seemed geared toward the old crowd.  It was too much for my 2 yr old and my 6 yr old didn't understand some of it and he's a really good reader.  We will probably revisit this one in a year or two.  I really liked how it described "red flag" and "green flag" situations and gave examples along with how to process those, but it seemed like at this point, it was a little too much for my kids.

God Made Me: The Safe Touch Coloring Book by Dr. Beth Robinson
I liked this one because it not only talked about how God made us and we should take care of our bodies (including brushing teeth, washing hands, etc.), but it was also easily understood and you could copy the pages to use as coloring pages.

No trespassing-- this is my body! by Pattie Fitzgerald
This was another good one that handled this topic well.  I particularly liked that it told the child how to handle touching that an adult might view as harmless (pinching cheeks, tickles, etc.), but the child doesn't like in addition to the inappropriate touching that is normally covered in books like this.

Samuel Learns to Yell and Tell by Debi Pearl
I am still not sure exactly how I feel about this one.  There are parts I like about it (it addresses dirty magazines and the devil and the boy becoming head of a family some day and some other things like that), but the way it was written confused my 5 yr old who is an advanced reader for his age.  I have the girl version too (Sara Sue Learns to Yell and Tell), but that was way over my 2 yr olds head.