On the Daniel Morcombe Foundation’s national day of action, Day for Daniel, officers from Queensland Police Service walked alongside parents, carers, educators and children to promote child safety awareness.
What is personal safety?
Personal safety is teaching kids to trust themselves, to know when they’re feeling uncomfortable or scared.
Often a child can’t express themselves with words when they’re feeling upset, and this means body clues are important for a child to recognise when they’re scared or uncomfortable.
- Crying
- Sweaty palms
- Heart pounding
- Hair standing on end
- Wobbly knees
- Funny tummy
These are all ways the body has of telling us when we’re not in a good place.
It is important that our children recognise these signs, so they know if they are in an unsafe situation or with an unsafe person.
If a child does feel unsafe, it’s important they know what they can do.
- Scream
- Run
- Say NO!
- Tell someone
Practice these with your children, make sure they know it’s never rude to say NO! To scream, to run away if they are feeling afraid.
The safety network
A child’s safety network is made up of adults who the child can trust, who will believe them and who can help them.
A few examples could be:
- Mum
- Dad
- Grandparent
- Aunt
- Teacher
- Family friend
This is the safety network and every child should have at least five adults whom they can trust.
This Day for Daniel, take some time to talk with your children, talk about body cues, formulate a safety network with them, practice a loud NO! Children need to feel confident that they can talk about things that have upset them. Make sure they know they can trust you to believe them. Make sure they know they can talk to you about anything.
