Imaginif...the spirit of Christmas lasted.

Play is children’s work, it is how they learn and develop. Therefore,using play to help children remember important information is an important part of development.

Keeping our kids safe is our job, and a really difficult job because we cannot control what somebody else does to our kids….particularly sneaky people or people we trust (did you know that 85% of child sexual abuse is perpetrated by somebody well known to the child!).

Combining play and our need to keep our kids safe, I designed a play model of protective behaviours, Parent Sense: a 12 page protective play tutorial, to help us all out. Parent Sense makes easy work of explaining all the personal safety bits, No Go Tell, Stranger Danger and Protective Behaviours,  to our kids. All you have to do is play the suggested games and you are giving your kids messages of safety that their brains can easily remember when they are in danger or are stressed.

Here’s two really clever protective play ideas that other parents came up with and that are not yet included in Parent Sense: The BITSS model of Protective Behaviours

1. Brush up on Good Touch/Bad Touch (need three different types and sizes of brushes. Act this out to the kids: it’s funny and will stay in their minds because it is different and playful).

   “These three brushes all touch us the same way,”Mummy began. “They touch us by brushing. This one here is a good touch. It feels good when Mummy brushes your hair. Soft, nice. But…if Mummy is cranky and yanks that brush through your hair; BAD touch.”

   “This one here is a nail brush. Still a brush but when you brush your hair with this one, it hurts a little because it’s job is to brush finger and toe nails, not hair. Because it feels scratchy on your scalp it tells you; warning, warning – wrong use of brush.”

   This one is a scrubbing bush. Try to brush hair with this and it hurts big time. Try to brush finger and toe nails and it is too rough. It is a very bad touch.”

   “Big people’s hands can be like these brushes. Hands are for helping – good touch. Hands are for loving but sometimes the loving brush is wrong and makes you feel funny inside – warning touch. Hands can hurt and if someone tried to touch your private parts it is a very bad touch. You don’t scrub your privates with a scrubbing brush and nobody is allowed to touch your private parts either. That is bad touch. If someone is nail brushing or scrub brushing you, your early warning signs deep inside your body tell you it is warning or bad touch. You can go and tell somebody you trust. It is an adult’s job to protect and help children, not to scrub them raw with bad touch.”

2. Child Protection Party Game with Snake Bite (need a packet of Snake sweets. This game fits with increasing your child’s intuition – their emotional intelligence)

   Slowly stretch a lolly (candy) snake as far as it can be stretched without breaking it. Make a sad face to the kids whose snake breaks and then a happy face when they put the pieces in their mouth to eat it. For the kid who wins, clap big time and ask him how he feels. Ask all of them what was happening inside their tummy or chest as they were trying to be the winner by stretching their snake. Ask them what would happen in their tummy or chest if it was a real snake!”

Happy playing your way to child safety.

Bitss model of Protective Play training in Cairns on May 24.
Registrations now open