Watching videos
A video starts playing on its own after the one you chose. It is scary and you do not like it.
What do you do?
Step 1: What Would You Do?
There is often more than one good answer. Pick one and see what happens.
In a game
Somebody in a game keeps writing messages to you. You do not know them. They keep asking questions.
What do you do?
Step 2: What That Was
The name for what you just worked out.
Sometimes something on a screen makes you feel funny inside. Scared, or worried, or just wrong.
That feeling is a signal
Stop looking. Go and tell a grown-up. That is the whole rule.
You will not be in trouble
Even if you clicked it. Even if you were not supposed to be on it. Telling is always the right thing.
Step 3: Quick Check
Two questions, then you are done.
Question 1 of 2
Something on the screen makes you feel worried. What do you do?
Question 2 of 2
You clicked something you were not supposed to. Will you be in trouble for telling?
Step 4: Your Life Mission
Something to do away from the screen. Nobody is checking.
Who would you tell?
- Say out loud who you would tell if something felt wrong on a screen.
- Name two people.
- Check one of them is usually nearby.
Why: Knowing who to tell before it happens is what makes telling quick when it does.
For a grown-up: Say plainly that they will never be in trouble for telling you, and then keep that promise the first time it is tested. That first time is the whole investment.
Step 5: What You Learned
- If something feels wrong, stop.
- Tell a grown-up.
- You are never in trouble for telling.
For the grown-up
How you react the first time determines whether there is a second time. Visible alarm or anger, even about the rule they broke, reliably converts a child who tells into one who hides.
Separate the two things out loud: thank them for telling, and deal with the rule another day if at all. Merging them teaches that telling carries a cost.
The discomfort signal is a better detector at this age than any list of prohibited content, because it works on things nobody has thought of yet.