PERSONAL SAFETY KINDERGARTEN – CHESTER’S TALE POWER POINT

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Today we are going to talk about some important safety rules. I bet you already know a lot of safety rules! Let’s play a little game… What should you do when you get in the car? (pause for answers) Put on your seat belt! I bet you already know a lot of safety rules! Let’s play a little game… What should you do when you get in the car? (pause for answers) Put on your seat belt! What about when you get on your bike? (Pause for answers) Put on your helmet! Ok, lets try one more… what about when you are about to cross a busy street? (Pause for answers) Look both ways/hold a grown ups hand. Why do we learn so many safety rules? (pause for answers) Just incase! Now do we put on a seat belt because we think we think we are going to have an accident? Or do we put on our helmets when we ride our bike because we think…I am going to crash into a tree today? No, we do those things, just incase! Today we are going to learn some more just incase safety rules that have to do with our bodies.

I brought my friend Chester (Show your stuffed animal Chester) with me to talk more about staying safe. Can everyone “wave hello” to Chester? Is Chester real? No ,but he helps me talk to you about staying safe, Today we are going to talk about your body and people touching your body.

I have a really important question for you. Who does your body belong to? (pause for answers) You are in charge of your body and you can say when you don’t like something.

Chester has his very own story book and wants me to share it with you.

Once upon a time in a garden far far away, in a galaxy just across the milky way; there lived a cat named Chester. Chester was an ordinary cat as cats go.

He liked chasing Wigglebees, although he never did catch one, cause they are very fast.

He loved to skid across the linoleum fields after they had been freshly waxed.

Chester was an ordinary cat; except he had the most unusual tail. It had colors no one had ever seen before and fur no one had ever felt before.

“Oh, what a wonderful tail” said the Wigglebees. “It’s marvelous” squealed the Bafflewhaps. “Oh, what an unusual tail” exclaimed the foozles.

“Oh, what a problem” thought Chester. “Can’t they just leave me alone?”

People were always wanting to grab, poke, pounce on, or stroke Chester’s wondrous tail.

The Bafflewhaps like to hide in the garden and jump on Chester’s tail.

The Giggling Pippuls like to tickle and touch.

The Foozles like to feel and fluff his tail. (Ask-Does Chester look happy?How can you tell?)

All of this bothered Chester.

They weren’t the nice touches he got when he was petted by a Pregul. (Point out Chester’s face now-and ask how the children think he is feeling now)

They weren’t the nice touches he felt when he was being held be a Wambul.

Chester knew there were some touches he liked and some touches he didn’t.

One day Chester was reflecting on his reflection in the garden pond. He could see his beautiful tail waving behind him. He thought to himself, “This is my tail, this is my body; all of it belongs to me! I’m in charge. I can decide who touches my tail. I can decide who touches me!”

When the Bafflewhaps tried to jump on his tail, Chester said in his serious voice, “My body belongs to me. I don’t like it when you jump on my tail Bafflewhap. I don’t want you to do that anymore.” Chester was very pleased with himself.

He decided to talk to the Giggling Pippuls. Using his important voice, Chester said, “This is important; my tail belongs to me. My whole body belongs to me. I don’t like it when you tickle my tail. I don’t want you to do that anymore”. The Giggling Pippuls stopped giggling. They knew from the sound of Chester’s voice that he meant what he said.

“This is my tail; this is my body. I don’t like being felt and fluffed by a foozle. I want you to stop.”

Chester was very proud of himself for having spoken up. Now he didn’t have to worry about those uncomfortable touches from the Bafflewhaps, the Giggling Pippuls and the Foozles.

Chester smiled, and thought to himself “Now I know my body belongs to me. I can decide who touches me”.

And this is Chester’s message to you... You have an important voice too. Your body belongs to you and you can decide who touches you! You can say “NO” even to someone bigger than you.

If Chester were a real cat,what type of touches would he like? How would we know he liked it? (Purr, staying, rubbing against you etc.)Can you tell me some touches that make you feel happy? (pat on the back, high five, hug, kiss or touch on the shoulder) How do these touches make you feel? (safe, happy, good, special, loved) That’s why we call these touches “Safe Touches”.

But there are some people, not very many, who don’t know how to act around children. They may give you touches that are not safe. These touches can make you say “ouch!” An “ouch’ touch is a touch that hurts you on the outside or your body and can hurt on the inside too. Can you think of some ouch touches? (hitting, pinching, biting, kicking, hair pulling) How do these touches make you feel? (scared, sad, bad, hurt, confused, mad) Friends are for caring, never for hurting. If I were to give Chester an unsafe touch like pulling his ear or tail… what do you think he would do? (Hiss, scatch, run away)

Some adults or older children can give another kind of touch that it not safe. This doesn’t leave you with bruises, scratches or a broken arm, but this touch can hurt your feelings. An “uh oh” touch is a touch we don’t expect and it’s on the very private parts of our body. (Click for bathing suit pics) At NOVA we say the private parts of our bodies are the parts we cover up when we wear a bathing suit. These parts of our bodies are off limits.

There are only two good reasons why someone may need to help us with the private parts of our bodies. 1-to stay clean, 2-to stay healthy. Click. Ask “How many of you used to be a baby?” “when you were an itty bitty baby that couldn’t walk or talk, could you change your own diaper or give yourself a bath? No, you needed help from a grown up. If a baby doesn’t have their diaper changed they could get really sore and stinky!” “Now that you are getting older you need less and help with getting dressed and keeping clean. Sometimes even older kids and grown ups still need help with that. And that's ok, to have their trusted grown up helping them with that. “ Tell a story of someone in a cast that needed help with this and ask the kids, is that a safe reason? “Yes’” Ask the students “how many of you have been to a doctor for a check up? Sometimes when we go to the dr, the dr needs to check the private parts of our bodies to make sure we are staying healthy. And that's ok, because the dr is only checking to keep us healthy and we have our trusted adult with us.”

Most people are good and would never hurt you. They treat you nicely and only give you touches that make you feel safe, warm and happy.

What if someone touched a child on the private parts of their body for no good reason, how do you think they would feel? (sad, scared, confused, mad) Would you feel safe? No, you might have that uh oh feeling and not be sure what to do. That is why a touch on the private parts of the body is unsafe and called an “uh oh” touch.

If someone touches a child on the private parts of their body for no good reason, whose fault is it? (The person who did it) It is never the child’s fault, even if the person touched them more that once, or if the child didn’t say “NO” or tell an adult. Its the job of grown ups to protect and take care of children, if the give an uh-oh touch they are the ones that are breaking the safety rules, not the child. It’s NEVER the child’s fault.

If someone would ever try to touch a child on the private parts of their body for no good reason, or ask them to touch them on their private parts, there is something the child can do! Say “NO!” Practice this with a serious face and an important voice. Next is GO. Ask, where do you feel safe? Where would you go? The next step and most important step is to TELL. Who would you tell?

Ask the kids who their trusted adults are, who could they talk to if they had a problem? A home? And at school? Sometimes it is hard for adults to understand when someone has touched a child on their private parts for no good reason. Ask “what could you do if you told someone and they didn’t believe you or didn’t understand? “Keep telling someone until someone helps you. You have the right to be believed. It’s never too late to talk to a trusted grown up about an unsafe touch, no matter how long ago it happened… days, weeks or even years!”

WE SHOULD NEVER KEEP TOUCHING SECRETS. Sometimes when a grown up gives an unsafe touch they try to trick the child and say “don’t tell anyone this is our little secret” Even if the grown up says “shh...don’t tell anyone” You should tell one of your trusted grownups. We never keep touching secrets. Explain the difference between happy surprise and a secret.

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Practice NO, GO, TELL

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