What's This Thing Called Safety? by Ronnie B. DanielsMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This delightful book has a simple message which will resonate in the minds of all responsible and caring parents – “Let’s keep my child safe and teach them how to be safe.” – but that is not always such a simple thing to achieve when your child has autism. The author of the book, Ronnie Daniels, has such a child and goes out of her way to explain some of her own experiences in the author bio and more can be found on her web site. So the reader can be assured that the writer of this and the other books in the series really does know what she is talking about.
Let’s face it children, and not only very small ones, tend to think they are invulnerable and getting “hurt” occasionally is a very important learning experience, so being too protective, as a parent, may deprive the kid of an important lesson. However, the small steps with very small hurts are not always sufficient in teaching your child that they are not the superhero they imagine themselves to be in their developing minds. You can tell children something “important” over and over again but they won’t always remember it. Give them an opportunity to experience something and usually it sinks in to their brains a lot easier and quicker. The book is an attempt by the author to help children, but especially those with autistic tendencies, see situations where safety is essential because we are not dealing with small hurts as a consequence. Hurts that can be fatal such as collisions with a car or electricity!
The illustrations are excellent in that particular though I feel the rhymes must be read in conjunction with an adult who understands. The pauses and emphasis required from time-to-time will enable the thought processes of the child to take in the important messages on the page. Once it has been read together with an adult or older child, then I feel you could leave the younger one to read it again at their own pace - reinforcement always helps learning, whatever age or ability is involved. Regarding the rhymes that contain the important safety messages for the child I did wonder whether the arrangement of the words and phrases on the page might scan better if rhyming couplets had been used then it would make reading aloud easier for a child to chant and subsequently recall without the page in front of them later.
Overall the writer is to be congratulated for bringing to the attention of both parent and child a crucial subject like safety and the perils of risky behaviour through the enjoyment of an illustrated book of rhyme. Recommended.
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