Becoming Street Smart

Child safety program teaches kids how to help themselves...

By Nancy Miller

Imagine your child is walking home from school when they are approached by someone in a car who stops and asks them for directions.  Would he or she know what to do?  Or maybe they are home alone and hear a very loud noise.  Would they know what to do?   What if you are late picking up your child from school?  Would they know what to do?  Would you?  Have you taken the time to establish safety protocols or have these discussions as a family.

These are some of the "what-if" scenarios that are presented in a booklet from Street Smart Kidz, a new child safety program offered to Comox Valley youth between the ages of 10 and 14.  The educational workshop is designed to give kids safety strategies and options, as well as make them think about alternatives when they are about to take a course of action that may not be the safest.

"In today's society it is important that children think about safety.  We want them to realize what the repercussions of their actions, such as running away, could be and what their alternative could be," says Steven Baird, the managing director of the program, which has been up and running for almost a year.

In establishing the safety education program, Baird got input from the RCMP, the Ontario Provincial Police and the San Diego Highway Patrol ( the "Chippies").  He also found some help from the St. Joseph's Hospital Foundation and the Polly Klaas Foundation, named in honour of 12 year old Polly Klaas, who was abducted from her bedroom in California in 1993 and later murdered.

And then he got support of some local business people, such as Dr, Kirsten Emmitt and John Challender, and was able to offer this non-profit program at no charge to Comox Families.

The first section of the booklet has to do with identification, including photos, a fingerprint chart, information on obtaining hair samples for DNA and a form to be filled out at home by the child and parent.

"We also have a package that we give to parent for kids that are under the age of 10 and it is a cool little ID kit that parent take away and they get to go home and do it with their kids.  As an RCMP member will tell you that if, God forbid, anything was to happen to a child, these kits with all the information, fingerprints, updated photos, etc., really give them a flying head start in trying to find a child."

The next part of the booklet covers safety tips for parents, babysitters and the child being babysat.  The topics covered include guidelines on finding and hiring a sitter, certain information and protocols that should be explained to the sitter, safety tips, as well as a form with emergency numbers, contacts and directions to the home, etc., that can be posted next to the phone.

Then there is a section on how to be safe when online.  "Internet safety is a huge topic right now," says Baird.  "The internet has caused a number of problems.  As well as being a wonderful tool for all of us in our daily lives, it has become a new territory for predators.  And I think this has to be addressed."...

...In addition to offering advice on internet safety, Baird also discusses places kids should not go online.  Why they should not share their identity, why they shouldn't post their picture and why they shouldn't give out their social insurance number....

..."One parent said to me the best part of this is that they now have topics to discuss on Sunday night.  They all have dinner together and they make time to talk about these things.  It's just as much a parent learning program as it is for kids."...

Since the program started last year the response has been extremely positive.  So far they have had more that 300 kids go through the program, with about that many on the waiting list.   "We are trying to deal with that and working on the parents getting the course information and doing it themselves until they get to the top of the list and into the course....

..."Parents love it, they keep referring people, friends, relatives - that is why it keeps growing.

*this article contains excerpts from the original article printed in the June/July 2007 edition of InFocus Magazine - since this time another 1000 free Street Smart Kidz booklets have be distributed.