A couple of weeks ago, I read a post where someone mentioned a game they play with their kids..."What would you do if..." and an example of it was "What would you do if you saw smoke in the house and all the adults were outside talking to Mrs. Jones next door?"

I introduced this game to my 3 and 5 year old, and they love it! They ask to play it all the time! I have a hard time thinking up possible scenarios for the kids to think through. Of course the ones for my 3 year old are a little more basic than for my 5 year old. Actually we've played several times over the past couple of weeks and today, I repeated a question for my 3 year old that I first asked the first time we played. My 5 year old said, "Dad, you already asked that one!". Good memory!

It provides a wealth of teachable moments, and points out some flaws in the socialization of our children. For instance, when I asked my 3 year old, "WWYDI a stranger came up to you and asked you if you wanted candy?" My 3 year very politely replied, "I'd say 'please'". Good manners, bad answer! Gave me a chance to suggest an alternate answer for that one <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Anyway thank you to the person who mentioned that idea in the first place!

I'd also like to thank the person who put the idea in my head of spot checking to see if the kidos are carrying important gear. Mine are a little young yet, but I'm trying to teach the idea of EDC, without calling it that. They have small LED flashlights that they like to play with, and so today I told them that we were going to play a new game called "Gear Check". I told them that to play the game, they had to keep their flashlights close by them. Every now and then I'd say, "Gear Check" and if they could hold up their flashlight before I counted to ten (slowly), they would get a favorite piece of (sugar free) candy. This game has been slow going so far, but it has only been half a day.

Anyhow, thanks for the ideas to help me teach my kids about preparedness!

And any suggestions for WWYDI scenarios would be greatly appreciated <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

WWYDI you couldn't wake Mommy up?
WWYDI you were lost in a store and couldn't find Mommy or Daddy?
WWYDI someone you didn't know said they were Daddy's friend?
WWYDI a stranger asked you to help find his doggy?
WWYDI you cut yourself on accident?
WWYDI a friend asked you to swim in their pool (with or without parents)?
WWYDI a person asked you for directions?
WWYDI a friend was playing with a gun or knife?

Good stuff... I'll have to start doing the same with my almost 3 year old.

Hi,

I've been babysitting today so I had three girls in my house age 2, 3, and 4.

We played the "fire" game. Two girls put on toy firehats that we got at a tour of a firestation. The remaining girl pretended that she was on fire. She would stop, drop, and roll. Then the firefighters would put out the fire, and then the girl would hug the firefighters. They took turns being firefighters and girls on fire.

They play pretend with a variety of other stuff (e.g. being attacked by a dinosaur or princess locked in a tower by bad men). In those cases, I've been trying to work on the "say no, get away, tell someone" procedure that another mom taught me. It's not too hard to extrapolate from a dinosaur to a stray dog or from an "abductor of princesses" to a kidnapper.

I think that at this young age actually acting out the procedures is better than just talking about it. The girls had fun playing pretend, and hopefully acting it out will help them remember the stuff better if they ever need it.

I don't know about older ages, but this might give you some more ideas for working with kids at the toddler and pre-school stage.

-Kuovonne

I've used some of these, but there are some good variations that I haven't thought up yet!

I was surprised that my 5 year old knew that kids should never pick up a gun they find. In restaurants, she likes practicing her bread cutting skills with the rather dull serrated knives that those kinds of places have...freaks my wife out, but I try to teach to the moment.

And I think Kuovonne's idea of acting things out is excellent too...I'll have to add that to the old repertoire.

That's how my grandfather started me. Glad to see he wasn't the only one who uses that technique (although, I was never a princess, just didn't work with me :P )

I am constantly suprised at what young children are capable of. DD has known for a long time that she should never touch a gun. Maybe DH taking her to gun shows all the time has something to do with it ;-)

Oh, and five years old is plenty old to learn how to handle a knife properly. Of course, proper supervision and a non-distracting environment is a must.

-Kuovonne

Hi,

I didn't come up with the dinosaurs or the princesses. They came up with that themselves and I just tried to guide the flow.

-Kuovonne

I hadn't even really been thinking about it, but my son is about at that age as well. And Kuovonne's comments are definitely a good idea. He loves to do stuff like that!

Let us know if you come up with any more questions like those.

WWYDI a stranger said he had some puppies or kittens in his car?
WWYDI one of your friends was playing with matches or lighters?
WWYDI you saw a strange dog?
WWYDI if a dog started chasing you? WAlking home? On your bike? With other kids?
WWYDI if you saw/heard someone calling for help?
WWYDI if you saw smoke coming from a neighbor's home or garage?
WWYDI if you got hurt doing something that Mom or Dad told you not to do?
WWYDI if you smell smoke in the house but can't see any fire or where it's coming from?
WWYDI if you can't wake up the babysitter?
WWYDI if someone (even someone you know) wanted to touch you in a way that made you feel uncomfortable?
WWYDI if you saw a snake? Skunk? Raccoon? Coyote?
WWYDI if Daddy fell off a ladder and no one else was home?

Don't just ask a question & praise a single correct answer, get into a conversation about the subject/question, and make them think about the situation, not just rattle off fast answers. Ask WHY they would do that, and what else they might do, how they might feel in those circumstances, and go around it fully.

And for parents: THNIK before you SPEAK. I don't know how many times I've heard a child try to tell a parent something and all the parent could do is yell, "I told you not to/never to/always to (blah, blah blah)!" Is that going to make the kid feel so warm and fuzzy that he's going to try to tell them something again, without fear?"

BTW, does your local 911 dispatcher ignore distress calls from kids due to a high rate of prank calls? My neighbor died today. He and his friend were swimming and jumping into a deep hole from a bridge. He went down and didn't come up. His friend dove and tried to pull him to shore, but he appeared unconscious and started dragging him down. A boy on the shore had a cell phone and called 911, but the dispatcher refused to send help to the site. When the boy ran into the water to help, the phone got wet and wouldn't work. The divers have been looking for his body since 5:00 p.m.

Sue