We had safety drill at campus on ‘people’. Your child may like to express more or not express at all, just listen and if require encourage to talk more.
Safety means ‘being safe’. Today, in human society we are afraid of stealing, loss, threats, robbery and kids are not alien to these fears – they are equally fearful, may be they do not express. It is important to talk to kids about safety in different scenarios.
At Aarohi while we were talking about safety, we realized kids have many fear about strangers, kidnapping, robbery and so on. Kids hear various stories of kidnapping through various mediums (TV, Newspaper, People) but they are rarely heard on what they are thinking, and what are they feeling.
At campus, we did safety drill – kids panicked listening that “someone is at the gate and trying to break the gate”. Kids responded in various ways – some panicked, some knew this is just like that, some took the charge “lets dash them”, some went on terrace to see….
We discussed in detail various situations – what if, what else, so what, why not..more we discussed various situations, more kids were afraid….we divided in different teams and they discussed in in detail., including their fears. Different team presented different solutions. More we talked, more they asked questions. . More we talked more they faced their fear. More we created situations, more they took part.
One child compiled documentation on various situations and one of the underlying messages was ‘make yourself safe, run, inform adults, act with alertness’. Another child expressed ‘I do panic and may be these drills will make me face my fear’. She asked for more drills and wanted to TALK and PLAY more with her fear.