TEACHING TOO YOUNG?
It’s getting hard to know how much to teach your children. I have been deeply troubled the last few weeks between the massacre in Norway, shootings in the United States and general atrocities that are too many to mention. I practice with my son homemade drills of saying no to drugs, alcohol and smoking. We’ve gone over the differences between talking with a stranger to be polite. Saying thank you, excuse me, etc. is different than telling your home address or telephone number. Talking with a stranger when you’re with your adult is different than talking to a stranger by yourself.
So when and how do I teach him to run and hide. I’ve been contemplating for days how to even bring that up in a conversation without infringing on their sense of safety. If you answered you can’t, then you are correct. What you can do is introduce a game to your children. Practice impromptu run and hide games just for the fun of it. Your children will think you are just playing a game with them but you’ll be practicing with them.
The early childhood practice of today is to tell your children why you are having them do something. Look both ways before you cross the street so a car won’t hit you and you become injured or dead. That’s all well in good unless your child is running full speed ahead toward the street. You don’t have time to explain what’s going on you just need them to listen immediately. A true emergency situation demands that they listen immediately for their safety.
There are truly things that I never thought about having to teach my child at six. It seems our children need know more and more at a younger age. I know our children are learning things much more at younger ages then we ever did. You can argue all you want about kids today, just like every other generation. I want my son to be safe but I also want him to feel safe. That safety and security is vital to his learning process. A child that isn’t secure in their environment is worried about saying safe. When their brain is focused on their safety the brain can’t concentrate on learning. So we go back to what’s the answer. Playing games incognito is a choice. Who can go through the house the most quiet? When do you know it’s an actual emergency. What do you do if something happens. Regardless of home invasions, there is fires, tornadoes, earthquakes, etc that you need to plan for. Outside of Acts of God there’s always just general health issues. My mom picks up my son everyday from school and she often has him alone. My husband and I are closer to fifty then forty. Heart attack, stroke and other general ailments are possible. Our son has been trained on how and when to call 911. We pray he will never need this knowledge but want to prepare him for the worse but we pray for the best. Precaution is the medicine for prevention.
So when and how do I teach him to run and hide. I’ve been contemplating for days how to even bring that up in a conversation without infringing on their sense of safety. If you answered you can’t, then you are correct. What you can do is introduce a game to your children. Practice impromptu run and hide games just for the fun of it. Your children will think you are just playing a game with them but you’ll be practicing with them.
The early childhood practice of today is to tell your children why you are having them do something. Look both ways before you cross the street so a car won’t hit you and you become injured or dead. That’s all well in good unless your child is running full speed ahead toward the street. You don’t have time to explain what’s going on you just need them to listen immediately. A true emergency situation demands that they listen immediately for their safety.
There are truly things that I never thought about having to teach my child at six. It seems our children need know more and more at a younger age. I know our children are learning things much more at younger ages then we ever did. You can argue all you want about kids today, just like every other generation. I want my son to be safe but I also want him to feel safe. That safety and security is vital to his learning process. A child that isn’t secure in their environment is worried about saying safe. When their brain is focused on their safety the brain can’t concentrate on learning. So we go back to what’s the answer. Playing games incognito is a choice. Who can go through the house the most quiet? When do you know it’s an actual emergency. What do you do if something happens. Regardless of home invasions, there is fires, tornadoes, earthquakes, etc that you need to plan for. Outside of Acts of God there’s always just general health issues. My mom picks up my son everyday from school and she often has him alone. My husband and I are closer to fifty then forty. Heart attack, stroke and other general ailments are possible. Our son has been trained on how and when to call 911. We pray he will never need this knowledge but want to prepare him for the worse but we pray for the best. Precaution is the medicine for prevention.
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