What your kids SEE you do is far more important than what you TELL them to do!

So I recently had someone ask me how they might go about teaching their very young kids about safety and security. The question was:

"Where do I start?"

The journey to developing true safety and security is long; in fact, it's lifelong and should never stop! The question, however, was - "where do I start?" 

This is simple, but very powerful:

What your kids SEE you do is far more important than what you tell them to do!

So...start with YOU! Be an example and teach your kids. Let your kids see what "being" safe and secure looks like through your living of it. 

And? Use your experiences, and appropriate moments, to teach them. What exactly does this mean? It means when something concerns or scares you, when something is not right, you react and, when you do, your kids sense that there is a problem. No matter how hard you try, you cannot "cover it up". So, rather than try to hide it from them, discuss the concern with your kids and make it a "teachable moment". We have so many teachable moments that could contribute positively to our kids understanding, education, training, and skill-building that we fail to take advantage of! I know there is age-appropriateness to this and you'll have to determine the most effective ways of taking advantage of these moments. The key is that you do! 

And, again, remember that kids learn most effectively by seeing, and they learn the most from their parents and families. You are their mentor so start by taking your own safety and security very seriously. This alone will do amazing things for their safety and security.