With all the cold weather around here recently, I’ve been watching quite a few Disney movies with my son! While enjoying “Finding Nemo”, my child advocate radar (and Mommy fears!) switched on big-time. While the movie is full of adventure, laughs, and brightly colored coral reefs, it’s also a great opportunity for parents to talk with their child about what they can do if they are ever separated from their parent, like Nemo.
So, I encourage you to grab some snacks, snuggle up on the couch, watch “Finding Nemo”, and then have an empowering conversation with your child about your own family Safety Plan. Here are some ideas, courtesy of https://www.parents.com/toddlers-preschoolers/development/social/child-gets-lost/:
Stay put
Call out the parent’s adult name “Jillian Kelly!” not “Mommy”
Look around and if possible, ask for help from the nearest parent (an adult who is with their own child/ children). Consider writing your cell phone number in your child’s coat or shoe, and let your child know it’s OK to show an adult (a parent, police officer, etc) this number if they are separated from you.
Additional ideas include changing language from “don’t talk to strangers” (which is hard to actually enforce as children are meeting new people regularly) to “don’t ever go anywhere with anyone, without ASKING my permission first” and “I promise that I will ALWAYS TELL you myself first if someone besides me (Daddy, Mama, Grandma, etc) has permission to bring you somewhere. If anyone ever tells you that they’ve already ASKED my permission but you don’t remember me telling you that, then it means that person is telling a lie and they are unsafe so you can yell “NO, DANGER, HELP!” and get away immediately.” And since children learn through play and repetition go ahead and role-play with your child so they know the safety plan before it’s ever (hopefully never!) needed.