Today kicks off Rose Brucia Stranger Safety Awareness Week in New York State. The reason for this special week is to remind children of the importance of stranger SAFETY, not stranger DANGER. There has been a lot of talk recently about how stranger danger is not what you should be focusing on because not all strangers are dangerous. I couldn’t agree more – in fact, we center our entire educational philosophy at Rose Brucia around the concept of stranger safety.
Stranger Danger puts the focus on all strangers being dangerous and that your child should never talk to or go anywhere with a stranger. Stanger Safety recognizes that children should not go anywhere with a stranger but also recognizes and allows children to speak with, under safer conditions, some strangers. The Rose Brucia curriculum strives to provide children with real-life concepts that increase awareness when dealing with strangers. It starts with the notion that your child is first going to receive their first formal introductions from their parents to establish the first level of safety. Beyond their safety net of the home, as children go out into the real world, they will encounter others who cannot be defined as anything but strangers. Does this mean that they cannot establish meaningful relationships with those around them as they mature? Absolutely not! It helps your child create a shortcut to identifying a dangerous situation before it has a chance to occur.
Simply stated: If your child doesn’t know the person, they do not go with the person!
It is always a good time to discuss stranger safety with your child. It is an even better opportunity to discuss stranger safety with your child the week before Halloween. Please take a few minutes to visit our free curriculum page at http://www.rosebrucia.org/downloads or check out this stranger safety tip page.
Be safe!