{"id":57,"date":"2015-07-10T01:16:45","date_gmt":"2015-07-10T06:16:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swsecrets.net\/?p=57"},"modified":"2018-06-15T23:28:33","modified_gmt":"2018-06-16T04:28:33","slug":"safe-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/swsecrets.net\/?p=57","title":{"rendered":"Safe Word"},"content":{"rendered":"

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As a parent \/care giver, we know teenagers\u00a0can be\u00a0difficult, that is no secret or surprise. We worry about teenagers and the decisions they make. It is stressful!
\nAs a teenager, life is challenging. You’re trying to figure out who you are, who you want to be, and what choices you want to make in life. And at times, you make choices based on what your friends want and not necessarily what feels right to you.<\/p>\n

I am sure everyone has a few situations they look back on with some regret, or knowing it was wrong. However, because our peers did it or pressured us into doing it we felt obligated. It was the “cool” thing to do, so of course we wanted to fit in!
\nSo, how can we help? As caregivers and parents, what are some tips\/tricks we can utilize to ensure our teens and children\u00a0stay safe? There seems to be nothing that works at times as teens will want to be independent, and of course think we are the worst people on the face of the earth! Teenagers do know everything and have every answer, as\u00a0you know \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

I just have one simple trick to share today, and that is the create a “safe word” with your teen or child. You and your teenager can come up with a word together. Once a word is decided upon, this can be used in numerous different situations your teen is not comfortable in. For example, let’s say your teenager is at a friend’s house and the friends are doing something that makes your teen feel unsafe or uncomfortable. The teenager can text you their safe word. As a parent or caregiver, we can then call\u00a0our teen telling them we need to pick them up for whatever reason we make up. This is just one example of how\u00a0a “safe word” can be used.<\/p>\n

Some people may think why not just call your parent and tell them to come get you?<\/em>. Well,\u00a0let’s be honest, how many teenagers are going to tell their friends they do not feel safe and want to leave? Not many.<\/p>\n

“Safe word” also assists in helping you and your teen communicate. Start by thanking them and praising them for using the safe word (refer back to my Relationship\u00a0vs. Repair blog), and then talk about what happened, or how to avoid dangers in the future.<\/p>\n

This simple technique can also be used for children to ensure their safety. Just like you would with a teenager, you and your child create a safe word together. For this next example, let’s say\u00a0the safe word you and your child created\u00a0is bubblegum<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0Example: Let’s say you are having neighbor Joe\u00a0pick your child up from daycare because you work late.\u00a0Joe has to tell\u00a0your child the safe word, bubblegum,<\/em>\u00a0before\u00a0your child will go with neighbor Joe. Let your child know to never<\/em> leave with any adults\u00a0unless\u00a0the adult knows\u00a0to say the word bubblegum<\/em>. Make sense? Now, our\u00a0\u00a0job as parents\u00a0is be sure to tell neighbor Joe the safe word prior to picking up our child \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Simple, but effective!<\/p>\n

Safety is important. Do not feel\u00a0ridiculous for\u00a0wanting to double, or triple check, that your teen\/child is safe. You are entitled to those feelings as a parent, and it is important that we know our children are safe.<\/p>\n

-keep shining<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a parent \/care giver, we know teenagers\u00a0can be\u00a0difficult, that is no secret or surprise. We worry about teenagers and the decisions they make. It is stressful! As a teenager, life is challenging. You’re trying to figure out who you are, who you want to be, and what choices you want to make in life. And at times, you make choices based on what your friends want and not necessarily what feels right to you. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[344],"tags":[40,60,69,70,71,72],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/swsecrets.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/swsecrets.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/swsecrets.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/swsecrets.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/swsecrets.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/swsecrets.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":325,"href":"http:\/\/swsecrets.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions\/325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/swsecrets.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/swsecrets.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/swsecrets.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}