I highly recommend this book!

“Mommy, you tell me when you see a bad stranger, okay?”

I laughed a little when 2 yr. old Jada said this to me one day while we were at the grocery store. I had just started warning my precious little girl about “mean” people in this world. If only we could simply look at somebody and know if they were good or not. Simple, innocent thinking like this from a child is precisely why it is so critical that we warn them of the dangers in this world, and the evil people in it. I urge you dear mothers, if you haven’t done it yet, don’t put it off any longer. Your children need to know how to protect themselves from those who are out to harm them. Don’t be afraid that you might scare your child, or worry him. It is time that you arm him/her with life saving knowledge using these practical tips.

• Have a heart-to-heart. This needs to be a sit down, face-to-face, serious conversation. A casual mentioning of strangers will not suffice. Your child’s age will determine the tone of the conversation, and how deep you get with it. I would suggest starting at age 2 ½-3 yrs. old, depending on their maturity level. This is how I would go about it:

“Baby, I want to talk to you about strangers. Do you know what a stranger is? A stranger is somebody who you do not know well. Now, there are lots of people in this world who are strangers to us, we do not know them, and some are good, and some are bad.

Most people are good, but there are some people out there who are bad. Bad strangers will try to hurt you. Sometimes bad strangers try to take children away, and keep them and do bad things to them. I want to tell you about bad strangers to teach you to be careful around people who you do not know.

Bad strangers don’t always look mean. Sometimes they act very nice. You can’t tell if they are good or bad just by looking at them. Bad strangers are tricky! They will act nice to you, but they are really mean. Sometimes they will try to trick you to get you to go with them. It is very important that you stay close to Mommy or Daddy while we are out, so that you don’t get lost from us. If you do get lost, you need to find a store worker, or a police officer right away and ask for help.

• Role Play. This is where you give your child some scenarios of what a “bad” stranger might try to do to get your child to go with them. It is really important to equip your child with the right responses for certain situations, and there is no better way to teach them than through practice and role playing. It’s just pretend now, but if it ever happened in real life, they would be able to recall their practiced responses. Do this often to keep it fresh in their minds.

Now, remember, bad strangers will try to trick children. They want to get you away from your Mommy and Daddy so they can take you. They might act really nice to you and say something like, “Hello little girl. What’s your name? Do you like candy? You do! Well, I have some in my car, you want to come and get some candy?” Let me tell you something… you should never talk to strangers unless you are with a grown up who you know. You should never take candy from a stranger, unless your Mommy or Daddy says it’s okay first. And you should never, EVER go to the car of a stranger! This is their trick! If they can get you to their car, they will put you in it and drive away. I would never see you again! Now, let’s practice what you should do if a stranger comes to you.

Here is where you roll play. Make up a few scenarios to lead your child through. Don’t act creepy. Don’t put on a mask or try to make yourself look mean or different. Strangers look like everybody else, your child needs to know that. Pretend to walk up to your child and begin a conversation:

You: “Hello. What’s your name?”

Child: “My name is Sarah.”

You: “Hi Sarah.” “How old are you?”

Child: “I’m three.”

You: “Oh! Wow, you’re a big girl!” “Well, Sarah, would you like some candy?”

Child: “Yes!”

Stop!! This is where you correct your child. Tell them again how they should never take candy from a stranger. Give them the correct response:

Child: “I have to ask my Mommy or Daddy first.”

Now begin another scenario.

You: “Hi little girl. Do you like puppies?”

Child: “Yeah!”

You: “Well, I have the cutest little puppy in my car. Would you like to see him?”

Child: “Sure!”

Obviously this is another big stopping point! Tell your child that if somebody invites them to his/her car, they should never go alone. Give your child the correct response:

Child: “I have to ask my Mommy or Daddy first.”

Become a little more aggressive in your approach as a stranger.

You: “Oh, come on! He’s really cute! I’m sure your Mommy wouldn’t mind. We’ll be right back!”

Child: “No thank you. I have to ask my Mommy first.”

Now, without acting it out (you don’t want to scare your child), talk to them about the possibility of a stranger trying to grab them and forcibly take them away. Tell them that sometimes bad strangers will pick a child up and try to take them.

“Sometimes a bad stranger will try to take you away by picking you up, or grabbing your arm and forcing you to go with them. Do you know what you should do if that happens? If somebody tries to take you away from me, I want you to fight them with all of your strength! Do you understand me? You kick, you scream, you yell “Mommy!!”, you hit, bite, and fight as hard as you can to get away. Do not let them get you to their car. If they get you into their car, I will never see you again. And baby, if I lost you my heart would break! I would cry and cry. I don’t want to lose you, so I need to teach you what to do if a bad stranger tries to get you, okay?”

Now remember, most strangers are good. But there are some bad people out there who want to do harm. The best way to keep safe is to stay close to me always, never run off or get too far from me. If you aren’t close, a bad stranger could grab you and run away with you. And if you get lost in the store, you find a worker to help you. Never, ever go with somebody out of the store. Okay?”

Make sure that you practice and talk about this often. Make up different situations to better equip your child. What you teach him has the potential to save his life! Some other scenarios you can practice:

“Can you help me look for my lost puppy?”

“Your Mommy told me to come and get you.”

“Would you like to make a little money helping me?”

“Your Mommy is out in the car. Come, I’ll bring you to her.”

Talk to your child about what his/her reaction should be for each circumstance. And I can’t say it enough, practice, practice, practice. Don’t let your child forget this very important lesson. Remind them often when you are home and in public. I have to warn though, this should not be used as a behavior tool. If your child is misbehaving, and wandering off, don’t threaten him that a stranger is going to take him away. This is an issue of disobedience that requires a disciplinary action. Teaching your child about “Stranger Danger” is a life lesson, not a disciplining method, so don’t confuse the two. You wouldn’t want your child to take this warning light heartedly.

• Question and Answer Time. Ask your child if they have any questions, and answer them the best that you can. Next take your turn asking questions. Quiz them about what they are going to do in different situations. Reinforce what you have just discussed. And make sure to give lots of praise for correct answers! Encourage your child, and give him confidence in knowing that now he is able to better protect himself if suddenly found in a compromising situation.

I hope that I have provided you with a good starting point to begin teaching your child about how to better protect him or her self. If you have a personal story about a “bad” stranger in your own life, or if there has been a recent news story about a child being kidnapped, don’t be afraid to share these with your child to better demonstrate the reality of this danger.

Here is a link to help you find some more “Stranger Danger” lesson plans and activities to do with your child.

I’d love to hear any suggestions, or personal stories about how you have talked with your children about this subject!

If you haven’t discovered them yet, your local library may have lesson kits available for you to check out. Each bagged kit is of a particular theme. The one pictured here is about Mothers. In them you will find books, a puppet, a lesson plan booklet with activities inside, finger play and poem cards, music, and a flannel board story. They are usually found in the children’s section. These kits are such a wonderful resource, and for FREE, what’s better than that??

Sometimes it’s hard to find time to squeeze in all of the lessons that we would like to teach our children in one day. A good way to take advantage of “dead” time is while you are out driving around. Instead of turning on a DVD player for your child to mindlessly vegg out on, go over memory lessons with him. Some things I’ve practiced with my preschooler while driving are:

AGE 2-3:

ABC’s

Counting 1-20 (Eng. and Spanish)

Colors in Spanish

Days of the week

Months of the year

Reciting child’s full name, and parent’s full names

Quoting Scripture Memory Verses

AGE 3-4:

Naming the Presidents (1-10)

Simple Math (Addition/Subtraction)

Counting 1-100

Counting by 10’s

Counting by 5’s

Naming the Continents

Naming what Continent she lives on

Naming what state she lives in

Reciting Her Home Address and Phone Number

More Scripture Memory Verses

Naming the Four Seasons

Naming and Discussing the 5 Senses

Practicing Spanish Phrases

And it’s always fun to sing with your child (without the radio)!!

I love celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with my kids!! Before I had my own babies, I’d have the coolest party with my preschool class to celebrate the holiday. My favorite thing to do is put small, green cut out paper footprints “walking” all over the wall, across the ceiling, and down another wall, leaving a path of little prints. First I point out a little scroll, rolled up and tied with a ribbon. When the children excitedly open the mysterious message, I read the poem inside from the leprechaun, about how he came and hid his gold for them to find. Then the children follow the footprints and find the “pot o’ gold”, actually a bag of those gold foil chocolate coins with a black paper pot attached to it. My daughter especially is absolutely thrilled with this surprise! She looks forward to this occasion all year! After the hunt, we have a fun filled day full of activities, crafts, and “green” food to celebrate. I can’t wait to do it again this year! Well, here are some great links I found to help you in your festivities. It should be everything you need!!

Here are some cool online Leprechaun Hidden Pictures for kids. And here is a printable one.

The Legend Of The Leprechaun printable.

Here is another lesson activity for your child, and a short history of St. Patrick’s Day to read.

This is a cute shamrock snack idea.

Here is a fun game to play.

Here’s a cute craft idea.

Make a shamrock pin for the kids to wear.

Here are some printable St. Patrick’s Day coloring pages.

Here are some St. Patty’s day poems for your kids to enjoy.

Here is a cute snack container to make for decoration.

Rainbow mobiles are fun for the kids to make, and a great way to decorate the house.

Here’s a cute Shamrock necklace craft. And other crafts too!

This is a cute little present to make. I’m gonna use stickers around the jar instead of paint. Also a great way to use those baby food jars you hate to just throw away!

Here are some Rainbow themed Lesson Plan handwriting worksheets. And here are some more leprechaun themed preschool lesson time activities to print.

Here is a shamrock dot-to-dot in lowercase letters A-Z.

Here are some recipes and more fun activities to check out!

Need a couple more cute recipes to feed your little leprechaun?

Irish Mint Floats

Drop two scoops of mint chocolate chip ice cream into a glass mug. Pour milk over the top add a drop or two of green food coloring.
Top with whipped cream and green sugar sprinkles.

Shamrock Cupcakes

So easy to decorate, even your littlest leprechaun can help!

You’ll Need:
white cake mix or a cake from scratch
white frosting
green gum drops (the “Dots” candy type work best)
scissors

Make and frost the cupcakes according to the instructions.
Use clean scissors to cut the gum drops horizontally,
into three circles. Then cut the stems from another gum drop.
Top the cupcakes with the three circles and stem to make your
Shamrock — it’s that easy!

Rainbow Sticks

Make these up with different colored fruits and veggies. It would be fun to make one of each, and add dipping sauce!

Red – watermelon balls, strawberries, apples or cherries; OR, cherry tomatoes (halved)
Orange – orange pieces, cantaloupe balls, mango, papaya, chunks of cheese; carrots
Yellow – pineapple cubes or banana slices; squash, pepper
Green – grapes, honeydew balls, or kiwi slices; broccoli, cucumber, green olives, avocado
Blue – blueberries;
Purple – purple grapes or cubed plums (with skin)

Skewers

Clean and cut fruit and place in separate bowls if you want the kids to make their own. Place fruit on skewers in order listed to make a rainbow.

How do you celebrate March 17th??

I am a firm believer that children learn the best through interactive play. What I mean by that is the parent plays with the child using a great educational toy, and reinforces it’s lesson. I recommend beginning teaching your child the alphabet when he is 18 mos old. My daughter knew all of her letters, and the sounds they make by the time she was 21 mos. old. Not because she is a super genius (though I tell her she is all the time!), but because I wanted to bring out her full potential and was able to do so just by making playtime constructive! When beginning to teach your child his letters, teach the sounds they make simultaneously. Animating each letter with sounds makes them more appealing to your child and fun to repeat.

Here are a few of my all time favorite toys for teaching letters and phonics.

Leap Frog Fridge Phonics

I give full credit to this toy for teaching my 18 month old the names and sounds of every letter. Amazing!

Lowercase Expansion Kit

This is a great addition to the Fridge Phonics game. It teaches the lowercase letters.

Leap Frog Letter Factory DVD

Entertaining and educational. I love it! A great way to help teach your child letters and their sounds.

Leap Frog Phonics Radio

My little girl loves to sing along with this toy, and learn letter sounds at the same time!

Letter Puzzle

Alphabet puzzles are a great way to play, and learn letters.

Little Leap

This cute plush doll sings the alphabet, names letters, phonics and much more!

Doing devotions with your little one, even when they are really too young to understand, is great training for life. When your baby is really small, like before two years old, keep it extremely simple. A Bible picture book is good, possibly with one-word pages. Keep it to about a minute long, max. A good rule of thumb for how long your devotions time should be is the age-to-time rule: However old the baby is, that’s how long the time should be. If your baby is two, keep it to two minutes. If your baby is three, make your reading time about three minutes long, and so on and so forth.

When your baby is about two years old, he should be able to sit for two minutes and listen to a quick little devotion. You can even begin asking questions to get your child’s feedback, or thoughts.

I did a devotion yesterday with my little Jada about how God is like a shield for us. After the reading, we had a little discussion. I asked Jada what she could praise God for. She thought for a moment, then bowed her head and began to pray:

Dear God,

I want to praise you for my baby brother.

And my toys and books.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

I thought that was soooo cute that she was thanking God for her brother, and that she just began to pray without being asked to do so. Sometimes children may not seem like they are paying attention when you are reading, but when you follow up with one or two thought provoking questions, you’d be amazed at what comes out of their little mouths! And they may even come back at you with some excellent questions of their own, opening up a great conversation and discipling opportunity.

Another thought, at two years old children are able to start memorizing scripture. The first verse I taught my daughter was:

God Is Love. 1 John 4:8.

This is a great way to begin teaching them to hide God’s Word in their hearts! And believe me, they are quick to remember in relevant circumstances. I’ll never forget when Jada was 3 yr. old, she saw me eating a snack that must have been appealing to her. She came over to me and said, “Do not forget to do good to others, and share with them what you have! Hebrews 13:16.” How could I argue with that? I laughed, and of coarse shared my snack with her. How amazing are these little minds we teach!

I was thinking about a fun activity you could do with your sweet little bundle of love. Singing to baby is always stimulating and entertaining. I’m sure you already do this, but here are some ideas you might be able to use. Fun, but short, upbeat songs seem to bring smiles.

You can have a “Silly Songs Time” for a few minutes each day, if setting a specified time helps you to actually do this with baby, or you can just randomly sing silly songs throughout the day when the urge to do something goofy suddenly comes over you! Either way, baby will love watching an animated mommy sing with gusto!

Here are my favorites. Just the first verse or two is enough to entertain: