Win a set of children's books… Share your thoughts on educating children about safety.

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The lovely people at Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service have just launched a set of interactive children's books and have 10 sets to give away to Mumsnetters who contribute to this thread.

Let us know what you think about educating children on safety issues, what are the important issues? What should be taught at home and what should be taught at school? What do you think of HFRS new books? Details about the books can be found here

Oh forgot vital info! Competition open until August 28th

I think the basic stuff should be taught at home (and probably is most of the time without us even noticing, ie put suncream on in the sun, don't touch that its hot etc) so it's not so much taught at home but just part of everyday life iykwim.
Schools/nursery should reinforce this message and maybe go a bit more in depth in the introducing of 'people who help us' ie have a fireman/policeman visit and talk to the kids

I think you need to start young with safety issues to try and make them 'second nature' and for that reason i think it is important to teach things at home. Having said that, reinforcement in school is always a good thing and helps ensure those who arent taught these things at home learn them elsewhere.

I think the important issues for me would be fire safety, stranger danger, water safety, and road safety.

The books look good, a bit like something that would be done in school, they look they would make it easier for parents to know what to talk about.

There needs to be more emphasis on personal safety. There's a very good ad on Wave at the moment about pants being private,but we really need to encourage children to have the confidence to say "it's not ok to do/say that" to both adults and other children.

And where did the Green Cross Code go? That was fab!

There are so many different aspects of safety to be taught at home and school. We started early attending NCT fire station visits as toddlers. Have also visited fire station from school and had visit at school from police.
Stranger danger is the difficult one. How to get the message across without making your kids paranoid about everyone.

Thanks for your comments, It's really interesting to get your point of views.

These books are designed to be used both as a teacher led learning resource for Key Stage 1 students and as an independent learning resource for Key Stage 2 students. Itys hope this will Encourage shared reading outside the school environment between children and adults (parent/guardian/grandparent). The second tier of education and awareness is then cemented through the interactive back pages.

We have got other topics in our range of books which include; fire, road safety and water safety. We're also currently working on the topics for our next range of books.

The following website www3.hants.gov.uk/localresilienceforum also has some useful information and advice.

I think teaching children about safety issues can be instinctive when they are pre-schoolers (don't touch it's hot! etc..) but as they get older more thought has to be put in to how to explain consequences of dangerous things in a non-scary way. It is so difficult to get the right balance between not wanting your children to grow up scared of everything and making them aware of danger. This is especially true if you have a less confident more sensitive child. Books are a great way of teaching this stuff in a fun way.

I think the basic safety lessons start at home in the very early days. Often find myself talking to the baby about whether its safe to cross the road.

For me the main issues are road safety, water safety (living near the beach), the green cross code (we're rural as well) fire safety and stranger danger. As my DS gets older we'll have to think about Internet safety and also safety around building sites as a new town is being built by us soon.

I love the look of the books, they're a great idea. I do wonder whether some parents might struggle initially and whether basic leaflets should be available from the health visitors or online.

I also think that visits to schools from professionals are invaluable, fun and educational. I'm thinking police men, fire men, paramedics, lollipop ladies, lifeguards.

Thank you for the books they are fab