Age 7
- Neighbors names
- Home address and who they should and should not tell
- No unsupervised computer access
- Difference between storybooks and news about real people
- Dress selves, make own breakfast
- That there are things people do that are bad, but they feel good so people do them anyway. Some of their friends might want to do some of that bad stuff, and it might seem like they are having fun but they are not going to have fun for very long and then they are going to have a lot of sadness. Most people don't do those things, and if they get invited or they see kids doing stuff they can just leave, call us or go to a safe house and we won't yell at them. They can always get new friends but you can't get a new you.
Age 9
- Family names and jobs
- Should be able to find their way home from anywhere in neighborhood
- No unsupervised computer access
- That people have different opinions and you don't have to change your opinion if someone disagrees with you, and they don't have to change their opinion if you disagree with them.
- It's better to be sorry before you do something than after.
- Clean house, make simple packaged foods
- Without a lot of graphic details, that there are things called drugs and sex and bullying and what they should do if they run into specific things like someone offering them drugs or sex, or if they see bullying or are bullied.
Age 11
- Extended family names and jobs
- Should be able to navigate you home from various places in the city
- Own email account with talk about how many people on the internet are not who they seem to be, and that the computer connected to the internet is like a door into our house; once you let someone in, and they know that they can get in, it can be hard to make them leave.
- They should be able to explain why they like or don't like something.
- Specifics of drugs/alcohol and sex, and that people do it because it feels good but those good feelings don't last, and when they're gone all you want is to get them back. So then you start looking for those good feelings all of the time, and you ignore the things are hard now, but feel so much better when you do them.
- Sort laundry, mow grass, do basic work like change a lightbulb, etc
Age 13+
- forget it - they're teenagers, they're doing whatever they want and will just blame your poor parenting skills for whatever trouble they get into. Listen to them, check up on them, let them make their own mistakes as long as they're not catastrophic. Protect them, love them, fight with them for their own well-being. Ignore their hatred and wait for the storm to pass.
4 down, 26 to go.
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