Children learn personal safety skills
Hundreds of children in Cape Henlopen School District and Sussex County are learning to be safer through a program called Prevent Child Abuse Delaware. Thanks to a five-year pledge from Beebe Healthcare and Beacon Pediatrics, 2,500 kindergarten through fourth-grade students have participated in the program this year.
Children watch a movie and receive training on no-touch zones; how to identify safe grown-ups and name them to the instructor; how to identify strangers; good and bad touches; and the four basics for safety: say no, get away, tell someone and yell if needed.
The five-year pledge is a result of an awareness breakfast in Lewes held a year ago during April, Child Abuse Prevention Month. Last school year, 1,475 students received training.
The organization has also offered training to students in the Indian River School District as well as The Jefferson School near Georgetown and Lighthouse Christian School near Dagsboro.
“This one donation has allowed us to bring child abuse prevention education to as many students in the first four months of this school year, as the entire year before,” said Lynn Wong, director of advancement for Prevent Child Abuse Delaware. “We are so excited by this shift and hope to build on this momentum at this year’s breakfast.”
She said until the last two school years, fewer than 10 percent of the 10,000 students who participated the program had been from Sussex County.
Wong said the organization will be partnering with schools and businesses to host blue pinwheel gardens, a symbol of efforts to prevent child abuse, as well as promoting Wear Blue Day on Friday, April 7. The Champions for Children Breakfast will take place Thursday, May 4, at the Lewes Yacht Club.
