Imaginif

Trick or Treat? Our house is giving protective play treats. Smencils (see them in our shop - DELICIOUS) and sticky hands to reinforce safety networks along with a glow stick or two for turning into a bracelet or halo. Each child will be asked to name me their five support people prior to me handing over their treat though. I’d love to trick them all by squirting them with a water pistol, but, I do not fancy getting squirted back so we will forget that one!

Picture left: Smencils: Good scents is good safety. $1.20 from our protective play shop.

I have read with interest the many opposing views on treats at Halloween. Those polarised views do sometimes consider child safety and health. That these safety views are polarised, rather than standard, and attract punitive comments form die hard hedonists disturbs me. There is no question that Halloween can be fun for kids, but it can also be an opportunity for safety education based on natural learning tenets.

Halloween is a teachable moment: a not so hollow moment begging for safety instruction and information about what some kids have to endure because of real dangers out there. The teachable moment will be delivered from our home in a fun and interactive way. How else is it possible to educate children about important safety factors without scaring the life out of them? Each ghoul, ghost or goblin/ette that knocks on my door on Halloween will get a few well placed safety words to indicate that our home is safe and that we expect safety for every child in the world as well.

Did you know that Halloween is not celebrated much in Australia? Small pockets of children will dress up and visit the homes in their street (for three years in a row I think I have been visited by every child in my neighbourhood!!!). Children here are aware of the date and occasion because of commercial advertising, movies (the Addams family and Practical Magic I just love) and learning about what children in other parts of the world do. Halloween as a concept though is considered to be an American tradition. It is not a part of our culture or holiday traditions at all.

Halloween in Australia is an opportunity to teach child protection in a fun and non threatening way. Dressing up as a dreaded Australian danger or predator (crocodile, white pointer, dried creek bed, fiery sun, brown snake, etc) can be a simple way to get important safety messages across.

How easy would it be if we could dress up as a child sex predator to help our children see the dangers attached to that type of over common domestic predator? Impossible to do because a sex predator looks just like everyone else. Does your child know that it is okay to tell on someone who looks and acts normal in every other way? Does your child know how to listen to their intuition about a person and how to read the signs of feeling safe or unsafe?

Last days to enter our competition Halloween Safety: WIN Echidna in October.

A lovely child safety and protective play blog I found while out stumbling: To the neighbors. Congratulations and thank you to Be a Good Mom and Dad. I hope the birth of your new baby fills your family with even more joy than you already appear to have.