Safety Talk

Yesterday, Deanna's little girl's group (Little Sister's) met here. We had a police officer from the D.A.R.E. Program come and speak to them about safety. It was the most thorough and best presentation on this topic I've ever heard. The Officer was informative, moved quickly through the material, and kept it very interesting.

He started by explaining his equipment to the girls. He asked them to guess what his most important piece of equipment was. The guesses ranged from gun to badge, but the answer was his radio. His second most important piece of equipment was his pen.

One of the girls was a little frustrated and asked where the gun fell on his list of important equipment. He laughed and explained that some career policemen retire having never fired their sidearm. Wouldn't that be wonderful? The girls found that very disappointing.

He talked about the importance the police play in assisting the public. He identified lots of other public servants whose job is to help, such as crossing guards, firemen, etc.

Then he talked about how to protect themselves. He told the girls that if they ever were approached by a stranger who put his hand on them, they should first yell (at the top of their lungs), then kick, bite, scratch as hard as they could, then run to a safe place.

He explained what qualifies as a safe place. He also made sure the girls understood that they ARE targets and that people trying to kidnap them wouldn't look scary and mean. They'd look nice and, often, have dogs with them to lure the girls away from their safe place. He was very careful to scare the girls just the right amount - a good dose of reality without too much detail.

Then he moved on to "secrets" and what kind of secrets are appropriate. Not telling Mama about her Valentine's present from Daddy is a "safe secret". But if the neighbor says, "Don't tell your Mom about this," their response should immediately be, "I don't keep secrets from my parents!!!"

This hit home for Deanna, since we've had about 3 dozen talks about the importance of never keeping a secret from her daddy and me. I've explained that the only way I can protect her is if she tells me everything. When the Officer was talking about how important it is to always tell your parents everything, I glanced at Deanna. She was trying to catch my eye and was smiling. Slam Dunk!!

A bonus to the day was that one of the Officers who came along for moral support was a friend of mine from high school. We've haven't seen each other since Graduation which was - uhem - over 25 years ago. Neither of us recognized the other until he told me his name. Later, I noticed that his voice was the same and his mannerisms hadn't changed in all those years. I laughingly told him that his hair was shorter and he had wrinkles and couldn't possibly be the same age as me since I looked so much younger than him. I'm not sure if he appreciated my humor, but it really WAS good to see an old friend.

He was a Magician back in High School, and a pretty good one, at that. I told the girls, and they all ooed and aahed and, of course, wanted a demonstration. He looked shocked. I don't know if he didn't expect me to remember or if it was something of the past. Later, he gave me a business card with his website address. I looked it up last night. Not only is he still doing magic, but he's perfected the art of different types of magic shows. He combines his shows with motivational talks for adult groups, with learning tools for children, and even does what he calls "walk-around magic shows", where he mills through a crowd like at a cocktail party, and performs magic tricks one-on-one with party guests. His business rents cotton candy machines, blow-up play areas and even has a section where they spell out specific party planning details to help you plan your function.

I was suitably impressed. Before he left the house yesterday, I asked him which was his "day" job. He said that he works for the police department to pay the bills, but the magic is his joy. I sure wish he could make enough of a go to be able to do the business full-time.

But I'm awfully glad that yesterday he was an Officer with the D.A.R.E. program. Our girls received valuable information and hearing it from a professional source that's worked with these kinds of crimes brought it home in a way a talk with Mom and Dad never could.