Helping Little Kids be BIG
Sue Series eBooks target preschool, infant and primary school children. Instructions for these exercises and the play-acting are included.
'Helping Little Kids be BIG' through fun, easy-to-use educational resources for adults to help enable young children (aged 4-9 years) to effectively deal with Emergencies, Bullying, and Stranger Danger. The outcome of parents, carers and teachers using these eBooks is to teach young children how to deal with certain (serious) situations if alone. Sue's adventures in the three (3) titles cover thre
Thank you Maggie Dent x
17/12/2023
While it's busier than normal, lots of crowds and people on holidays ...
06/12/2023
The 7th of December 2023, marks a sad and reflective time for all connected with the Daniel Morcombe Foundation.
Daniel’s passing is now 20 years.
11/10/2023
05/10/2023
On Friday, 27 October, people around Australia will join us for Day for Daniel.
Last year, over 1.3 million Australians remembered Daniel and helped us continue his legacy. Be part of Australia’s largest child safety education and awareness day to help us empower kids with the skills to stay safe.
Register today 👉bit.ly/3NjYZSa
16/08/2023
Via Mommy Dearest Inc. ❤️
16/08/2023
Via Tiny Buddha ❤️
28/07/2023
❤️
28/07/2023
👮 Constable Paul visited St Patricks Catholic School, Latrobe yesterday to talk to students in years 3 to 6 about how they can be safe online as part of the Federal Police’s ThinkUKnow Australia program.
Students learnt that if a person they don’t know tries to interact with them online then they need to tell a trusted adult such as their parents, grandparents or a teacher.
💻 Check out Australia for further information on keeping your kids safe online.
27/06/2023
A strong message here ...
Thank you Karim Saidi (FB: Karim saidi-art), for this powerful image.
We believe that children are inherently good, and when children become cruel, we need to look in the mirror and be curious if that was modeled in the home. Maybe not towards them, but in the conversations caregivers have about others, how they treat their spouse, how siblings are treated, or how a parent even treats people at the grocery store.
Our children are always watching. Be the person who you want your child to become.
26/06/2023
Kids and teens are no different to us. Big behaviour comes from big feelings. It’s a sign of a brain that has registered threat, and a body that is getting ready to respond.
‘Threat’ isn’t about what is actually safe or not. It’s about what the brain perceives. ‘Threat’ can come from:
- a real threat‘;
- perceived’ threat (anything that comes with any risk of humiliation, judgement, failure, missing out, separation);
- stress;
- physiology (hungry, tired, in pain);
- sensory overload or underload.
It’s about physiology, not wilful intent. What the brain needs most in that moment is to feel safe again. This will happen most powerfully through relationship. But isn’t that what we all need when things feel big? To feel seen and safe?
There will be a time for teaching and talking, but during an emotional storm is not that time. We’re the same. How receptive are you to insight, wisdom, using your calm voice, when you’re really - really - upset. For sure there will be times when your willingness for calm conversation or hearing about what you’ve done wrong is zero.
Kids have even less tolerance for this during big feelings because the thinking brain - the part of the brain which can think clearly is still developing. It also goes offline in all of us (adults too) when big feelings happen, hence big behaviour.
To help the brain back to safety, focus on relationship over behaviour until the storm passes. Breathe, be with, and be a strong steady presence. In the moment, there isn’t much more you can do, and you don’t need to. Big feelings won’t hurt them. Feeling alone in big feelings is what hurts. If they want space, give it, but let them know you’re right here when they’re ready for you. If they’re yelling, let them know that you want to understand but you can’t talk when they’re yelling, and you’ll be right here when they’re ready.
Once the storm passes, then have the conversations that matter: what happened, what do they need, what do you need, what needs to happen to put things right (if they’ve left a mess), what can happen next time before things get to this? All kids want to do the right thing, but sometimes they need our help to get there.
17/06/2023
🤍🤍
Each child learns differently. Recognize the effort, no matter how small the results.
23/05/2023
Talking about our emotional struggles almost always helps us start feeling better. Speaking up is a sign of strength, and our friends and family members are usually more understanding and supportive than we thought they’d be. Start by sharing your feelings with someone you trust or reaching out to a counselor or therapist.
23/05/2023
From: Winnie the Pooh addict 🥰
15/05/2023
Thanks for sharing, Maggie ...
Monday chuckle***
12/05/2023
Many of us came from control based ways of being parented or ideas about raising children. Within that paradigm, the idea of apologising to children or making ourselves vulnerable seems like it might undermine our authority or make them respect us less.
The reality is that modelling is one of the best teaching tools we have, especially as our children's most trusted people. When we model repair, responsibility, ownership and vulnerability, we give our children these great gifts.
It's also okay to forgive ourselves for the things we messed up when we were doing the best we could.
Thanks, Institute of Child Psychology
30/04/2023
Truth.
23/04/2023
♥️
Just beautiful - thanks Maggie Dent !!
16/04/2023
There are many things that can send a nervous system into distress. These can include physiological (tired, hungry, unwell), sensory overload/ underload, real or perceived threat (anxiety), stressed resources (having to share, pay attention, learn new things, putting a lid on what they really think or want - the things that can send any of us to the end of ourselves).
Most of the time it’s developmental - the grown up brain is being built and still has a way to go. Like all beautiful, strong, important things, brains take time to build. The part of the brain that has a heavy hand in regulation launches into its big developmental window when kids are about 6 years old. It won’t be fully done developing until mid-late 20s. This is a great thing - it means we have a wide window of influence, and there is no hurry.
Like any building work, on the way to completion things will get messy sometimes - and that’s okay. It’s not a reflection of your young one and it’s not a reflection of your parenting. It’s a reflection of a brain in the midst of a build. It’s wondrous and fascinating and frustrating and maddening - it’s all the things.
The messy times are part of their development, not glitches in it. They are how it’s meant to be. They are important opportunities for us to influence their growth. It’s just how it happens. We have to be careful not to judge our children or ourselves because of these messy times, or let the judgement of others fill the space where love, curiosity, and gentle guidance should be. For sure, some days this will be easy, and some days it will feel harder - like splitting an atom with an axe kind of hard.
Their growth will always be best nurtured in the calm, loving space beside us. It won’t happen through punishment, ever. Consequences have a place if they make sense and are delivered in a way that doesn’t shame or separate them from us, either physically or emotionally. The best ‘consequence’ is the conversation with you in a space that is held by your warm loving strong presence, in a way that makes it safe for both of you to be curious, explore options, and understand what happened.♥️
My Sue Series Story
'One of my main concerns as a young mum was whether a serious situation could affect my sons. Could they identify a difficult or dangerous situation and take action, if alone? This constantly on my mind, I'd imagine terrible scenarios: I collapse to the floor and my three-year-old finds me. He stays by my side, patting me, holding my hand, crying and waiting for me to wake up... alone, frightened, worrying and waiting, not knowing that I'm in need of immediate medical attention and my life is at risk... and then it's too late!
So I chose to take responsibility; to be pro-active and prepare my young sons to deal with an emergency, confidently and calmly. I knew that I needed to know that my boys knew exactly what to do and why they were doing it. I needed to prepare my soft-natured sons for the real world – teach them response and reaction skills and help to build their resilience, but I couldn’t find the right teaching tools, so I invented my own and simply got on with it.
I visualised an emergency – noting exactly what I would need to teach my boys, so they could deal with the situation and get the help, correctly. I worked out a simple teaching technique with easy-to-follow steps to help them feel comfortable with the topic and so they understood, when, why, and how, to act. I created simple exercises to teach them necessary physical and verbal skills, and basic checklists to check off, so I knew that they could remember and action all the steps, confidently, automatically (and without the prompting)... I also applied this to the topics: 'stranger danger' and 'bullying'.
The main key to my teaching success as a parent was the combination of regular storytelling; discussions; fun play-acting; and plenty of practise, revision, checking and reinforcement – always focusing on effective time use (and not wasting time on anything less important) and teaching my young sons everything they needed to know.
My boys having learnt the vital steps, each (within a few short months) was a great relief to me because only then did I worry less about my concerns and focus more on the positive things. I was more at ease because I knew that they were capable and knew that I trusted them – I'd helped to keep my sons safe and happy, all because I’d taught them to be brave, smart and strong by the time they turned four years old.
Even a small child can assist someone, save a life, help them-self, or stay out of reach of a ‘stranger’ if they really know how!’