Child safety tips for parents who want to teach and reinforce important safety tips for kids. Safety rules for kids to keep them safe in dangerous situations, and as they grow up. Here is a collection of helpful books to aid you in teaching safety tips for kids.
Child Safety Tips for Parents: Helpful Tools to Reinforce Safety Rules for Kids
Once you have children, a flood of worries you never knew existed, or thought possible, enter your thoughts.
Or it could be, from your own experience, you know there are unsafe people out there, and you’ll stop at nothing to protect your child.
I fall into the second camp of adults who know just how scary and bad the world can be.
But… I know I cannot raise my children in a bubble, nor do I want to.
They will face many challenges and tough situations in life, and while this makes my heart heavy, I’m very diligent to teach and empower my children about dangerous people and situations and have confidence they’ll know what to do if ever put in this situation.
I have frequent conversations about safety with my kids, but one of the easiest ways to reinforce everything I teach is through books.
I’m sharing the handful of books we keep in our home and have found to be the best tools to teaching safety tips for kids.
8 Best Books to Teach Safety Rules for Kids
1. The Swimsuit Lesson by Jon Holsten
This book is written by a retired police sergeant and child sex crimes investigator who has investigated and helped successfully prosecute dozens of child sexual abuse cases.
The Swimsuit Lesson is a powerful book, yet simple and effective at educating children about the danger of sexual abuse and reducing the chance of your child(ren) from becoming victimized. The Swimsuit Lesson helps parents talk to their young children about privacy, modesty, and those who might do them harm.
As a bonus, this book gives parents a separate step-by-step guide, which is extremely helpful.
2. I Said No! A Kid-to-kid Guide to Keeping Private Parts Private by Kimberly King
It’s important to help kids set their own healthy boundaries when it comes to their private parts. This may seem like a daunting and awkward task for parents, but I Said No! helps prepare kids to deal with a range of problematic situations.
Kimberly uses kid-friendly story telling that’s simple, direct, decidedly non-icky approach, yet doesn’t dumb down the issues involved. She sets up kids and parents with an easy-to-use system and appropriate responses that kids can easily rehearse and remember to help keep them safe
Kimberly is a certified Early Childhood Education Teacher and certified Sexual Abuse Prevention Facilitator who trains adults and kids on prevention strategies, and I Said No! is a resource every parent should use to talk with their kids.
3. I Won’t Go with Strangers by Dagmar Geisler
Does your child know what to do when a stranger approaches them? What does a stranger look or act like?
The storyline in I Won’t Go With Strangers is about a young girl whose parent is late picking her up from school. As she’s waiting, several well meaning people (and one not so well meaning person) offers her a ride home. Some are people she sort of knows, like a neighbor or a handyman working on her house, but the girl asks herself how well does she REALLY know these people? She realizes she doesn’t know them well enough, declines the offer of a ride, and waits for her designated person to pick her up.
The story teaches kids an important lesson about strangers and safe people they can trust. While not all strangers are scary or bad, even though you may be familiar with them, you might not really know them.
4. Do You Have a Secret? (Let’s Talk About It!) by Jennifer Moore-Mallinos
A good rule of thumb is to not have secrets of any kind in your family. This way, if your child is asked to keep a harmful secret, they’re more likely to tell or scare away a predator.
This book, Do You Have a Secret? talks about fun secrets to have like a surprise birthday party or secret handshake, which I don’t necessarily agree with since our family has a no secret rule, but the purpose of the book is talk about secrets that make children feel uncomfortable and all yucky inside.
The book gives a guide for kids to seek help from a trusted adult when they have a bad secret. I would emphasize a no secret rule, what to do if a person asks you child to keep a secret and how they can share a secret with a trusted adult if they have one.
There aren’t any other books about this topic which is why it’s important to have in your safety for kids stash.
5. Good Pictures Bad Pictures Jr.: A Simple Plan to Protect Young Minds by Kristen Jenson
This book is ideal for kids ages 3 – 6 years old and teaches youngsters using gentle, age-appropriate messages, children will learn to Turn, Run & Tell when they are accidentally exposed to inappropriate content.
In Good Pictures Bad Pictures, kids deserve to be warned about the very real dangers of pornography in a simple way they can understand and this does the job well.
Here are more resources on internet safety and how to set up safety filters and blocks for popular social media, and child programs.
6. No Means No!: Teaching Personal Boundaries, Consent; Empowering Children by Respecting Their Choices and Right to Say ‘No! by Janeen Sanders
Does your child feel empowered to say “no” or stop!” when someone is tickling or hugging them and they feel uncomfortable?
No Means No! is a children’s picture book about an empowered little girl who has a very strong and clear voice in all issues, especially those relating to her body and personal boundaries. This book can be read to children from 2 to 9 years.
It is crucial that our children, from a very young age, are taught to have a clear, strong voice in regards to their rights – especially about their bodies. In this way, they will have the confidence to speak up when they are unhappy or feel uncomfortable in any situation.
Body Safety Education (aka sexual abuse prevention education) empowers girls and boys through knowledge, and teaches them they have the right to say, ‘No’ and to respect other’s personal boundaries. Both girls and boys need to learn to ask for consent and this can be taught from a very young age.
7. C is for Consent by Eleanor Morrison
This is an invaluable lesson to teach kids and especially or adults to respect the choice and gut instinct of a child.
C is for Consent teaches babies, toddlers, parents, and grandparents that it is okay for kids to say no to hugs and kisses, and that what happens to a person’s body is up to them. This helps children grow up confident in their bodies, comfortable with expressing physical boundaries, and respectful of the boundaries of others.
C is for Consent follows expert recommendations about letting kids make their own decisions regarding physical affection. A simple lesson about body boundaries appropriate for a wide range of ages.
8. My Body Belongs to Me From My Head to my Toes by Dagmar Geisler
This book encourages kids to say “no” if they are uncomfortable with physical contact and gives them a voice in uncomfortable situations.
My Body Belongs to Me from My Head to My Toes is an educational tool to help instill confidence in children when it comes to their bodies.
The narrator gives readers tips about what they can say or do to avoid unwanted physical contact, or how to tell the right people in the event it has already occurred.
Mores Safety Tips for Kids & Child Safety Tips for Parents
- 10 Body Safety Rules Parents Must Teach Children
- 7 Critical Safety Rules for Kids: What They Need to Know
- 11 Vital Parenting Tools to Teach Kids Body Safety
- Dangers of Popular Social Media Apps & Setting Limits with Technology
- 5 Helpful Tips for Keeping Kids Safe in Crowded Places
- Why Every Family Needs a Safe Word
- Unsafe Information About Your Kids You May Be Posting Online Without Knowing It
Want even more?
Shop All Parenting Resources
Shop all of our parenting resources from self-regulation tools and managing big emotions to building self esteem and confidence. There are resources for all seasons of life!
