Wellbeing Wonderings
Day for Daniel is the Daniel Morcombe Foundation’s national day of action for child safety awareness and education.
Day for Daniel is held annually on the last Friday of October in honour of Daniel. Wear Red, Educate, Donate is the theme for Day for Daniel as we strive to take action and conduct child safety activities in our local community to help in ‘Keeping Kids Safe’.
Children are educated about their personal safety to empower them to Recognise, React and Report if they ever feel unsafe, or that something is not right.
WHAT CAN YOU DO AT HOME?
Having conversations about personal safety should not be scary for children. Being open and approachable is the most important thing.
Regularly encourage your child to talk to you and show them that you are interested in their life by asking questions about their friends and opinions.
Listening to children shows them that you care and support them and can open the channels for respectful communication around sensitive topics.
- Discuss who they could talk to if they felt unsafe and what they could do.
- Practice using stories and scenarios to problem solve. Do not always make these about strangers. Try the Daniel Morcombe Foundation’s Conversation Cards. https://danielmorcombe.com.au/keeping-kids-safe/keeping-kids-safe/conversation-cards/
- Reinforce basic safety messages and ensure children know the phone numbers of people they can call on for help or to talk to.
- Explain that it is ok to say ‘No’ to an adult or child if they are doing something that is not ok or makes the child feel unsafe. Let the child know they will not get into trouble if they tell you about an unsafe secret someone has asked them to keep.
- Remind your child that it is always ok to talk to you, no matter what the issue, you care about them and want to help them to stay safe.
All information and more is at the following site: