Stranger Danger: an important message from PSP Founder, Susan Fox

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Parent Category: Advice - Parenting - General

Category: Safety

Dear PSP Members,

I wrote last week about stranger danger and it’s important to bring it up once again. There have been a few occurrences of strangers approaching kids in the last week.  I’m in contact with Brad Lander’s office and the local police precincts to get more information to clarify what we know about the different incidents and the danger it may mean for our children. For what it’s worth, I was pleased to hear that children acted appropriately to the situations they faced such as going into a local business to report someone harassing them, reporting to school authorities when they were approached, etc.

Even if these situations don’t pan out to be legit (there is reason to believe that one story was not) it is a good reminder discuss how to educate and arm your kids with good tools IF it were to ever come up. Teaching children the ways to deal with situations will help them build confidence and act in ways that won’t make them a victim. Sheltering our kids and not giving them any freedom may make them think that the world is a scary place when in fact it’s filled with wonderful, interesting people and just a few “skeevy” people to avoid.

The information HERE came from a letter that went home to parents of PS 172. There is some great information here. Please take some time to discuss with your kids.

Here’s an article on the value of fostering a child’s independence and letting go of our kids. It also reminds us that we may need to put a little more trust in other parents that they know what they are doing before we call 9-11 and assume neglect if we see a kid walking alone.

And one statistic from the article worth noting: Kidnapping by strangers is wildly uncommon; in New York State, for instance, the Division of Criminal Justice Services announced that 20,309 children were reported missing statewide in 2011; exactly one of those children was confirmed abducted by a stranger.

Susan Fox

Park Slope Parents

REMINDER: Daylight Saving starts at 2am on Sunday, March 8!

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Parent Category: Newsflashes

Category: Newsflash

At 2 a.m. local time this Sunday, daylight saving time arrives.  In spring, clocks move forward (think: "spring forward"); in fall, they go back (think: "fall back").

Here’s some advice about adjusting to the time changes:

1. Make sure to change your clocks before heading to bed Saturday night to avoid the panic of a late rise. Remember that some clocks change automatically (e.g., cell phones, cable box, etc) so keep it straight in order to avoid missing something!

2. Get ready several days out and introduce self imposed time changes:

For spring: "Try to shift your child’s body clock before the Spring forward comes.  You can start now by putting them to bed 15 minute earlier for the next 5 days which should help.  It’s a shift a bit in the time of the routine, but make sure to keep the routine. (Note: it may take a week to adjust to the new time… it will pass- really!)"

3. Be gentle with yourselves over the week:

For spring: "Spring Forward last year was like being jet lagged and beaten with baseball bats so this year we are going to bed 15 minutes earlier each day and getting up a little earlier too. It's not too late to do the same. In any case, whether you ease into it or tough it out, be gentle with yourselves next week."

Safety Tips:

This is also a good time to put new batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors as well as other battery operated devices like hazard warning radios and flashlights.

As a crime prevention tip, the 78th precinct also advises to change PIN numbers when you change the clocks for daylight savings time.

Finally:

Some places don't observe daylight saving time. They include Hawaii, most of Arizona, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Marianas.

Daylight saving time ends Sunday, November 2nd.

For some fun facts and trivia about Daylight Savings, read the PSP page Spring Forward (O The Humanity)

2015-6 Public School Calendar

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Category: News

 Check out all the details published for the 2015/6 public school calendar.