Customer Reviews

The Safe Side - Stranger Safety: Hot Tips To Keep Cool Kids Safe With People They Don't Know And Kinda Know

5 star:		(279)
4 star:		(33)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

First the bad news.... this DVD has some sound issues. Sometimes Super Safe Chick is speaking but the instrumental music is drowning her out. We found ourselves constantly raising and lowering the volume since things are happening so fast in the movie. It may just be a defect in our particular DVD.... we will check into it.

Now the good news! This is an EXCELLENT movie to teach kids about protecting themselves from strangers. Super Safe Chick (SSC)is VERY VERY funny! My dd actually wants to dress up as her for Halloween. So many clever things in this dvd..like when SSC is in certain situations she wears clothing that is either Green (in safe situations), Amber (in cautious ones) and Red (in danger type situations). She teaches the kids about the 3 types of people in their lives ("Safe Side Adults" - mom, dad, and others whom mom and dad have given their trust, "Kinda Knows" - family friends, neighbors, coaches, teachers, and "Don't Knows" - anyone not in the other 2 categories)

The movie shows certain situations - ie standing in line at the ice cream truck - SSC is in her red outfit, hanging at home she is in her green outfit until the doorbell rings... her outfit turns red and she is upset because she knows she shouldn't answer the door without her Safe Side Adult present. The doorbell keeps ringing and getting louder and she gets louder herself saying "Some people hate hearing the doorbell ring and they want to answer it - but I won't! My Safe Side Adult is not here"...then her mom appears and they open the door together and she is back in her green outfit. VERY CLEVER!!!

She practices with the kids yelling "This is not my Mom, This is not my Dad" - so of course my kids were shouting it for about 30 minutes at the top of their lungs. But it opened up a wonderful discussion. We made our list of Safe Side Adults and people who fell into the other category. The movie is VERY quick - things happen quickly so while my 3 yr old LOVED watching it....she got minimal out of it except what to yell and not to open the door or follow people looking for animals. But my 9 year old asked us questions for about an hour afterwards. I would think children ages 5-12 would get the most out of it. But adults will find it perfect for opening conversations - and very funny even though a very serious topic.

Both of my children are very friendly and fearless with all people and it scares me! I have looked for a good stranger book, video or computer software for several years. This is the best! All adults go into 3 categories - Safe Side Adults, Kinda Knows and Don't Knows. I have always been looking for a way to explain that you can't trust people you do know like the coach, neighbors, mom and dad's boss, etc. This DVD explains the Kinda Knows very well with great role playing! Supersafe Chick does a great job being silly, but explains the information very clearly. The end of the movie tells the kids to write down a list of Super Safe Adults with mom and dad. This is an assignment we should have done a long time ago!

We have spent a decent amount of time covering "stranger" safety in our home, and was worried that most of this would be review. Well, in reality, it was, but that ended up being almost better that way. My child got a chance to hear it all again from somebody else and therefore validating what I had been saying. We had already practiced yelling "this isn't my mom/dad" but watching Safe Side Super Chick tell us to do the same thing was wonderful reinforcement. It's great to discuss these things, and great to act them out, but watching it being done added another element.

The Safe Side Super Chick is funny and silly, but never overboard so that it detracted from the seriousness of the subject. We laughed a little while watching this, which served to diffuse the scariness. I think that the way people are categorized as "safe side adults", "don't knows", or "kinda knows" is an excellent guideline for children to use to make good decisions. The "kinda knows" seems to be the hardest category of people to explain to children, and often it made me feel like the paranoid mom to be saying "Yes, our neighbor is nice to say Hi to, but do we REALLY know them?" This dvd did an excellent job of going over those "kinda knows", such as your coach, your dad's friend, your neighbor, the person you regularly see at the store, and it never once sounded paranoid!

The only drawback to this series is that I wish it (or a subsequent title) would have addressed the subject of trusting your instincts and getting away from situations that "feel" wrong. Also, a little more in the way of sample situations would have helped. But overall, this is an excellent program.

I would have loved to give this disc five stars. The content is amazingly helpful. In fact, every family should own it.

The only real issue has to do with the post production. The dialogue sound is way too low. So you have to turn up the volume only to get blasted by the effects. Not good when little ones are trying to learn.

Annoyingly, the DVD intro can't be bypassed (we play this a lot, give us a break) and the menus can't be accessed during movie playing.

Come on Julie and John, you're hurting your message. A remaster would be appreciated. We'd even be willing to buy it again. It's that important.

I purchased this video after reading all the excellent reviews of it. Overall, I agree that the content is good and it is one of the few videos even available that cover this difficult topic, so for that alone it deserves 4 stars. It provides a very good foundation for me to expand on the topic in coversations afterward. However I feel there are a few things they could have done to make this even better:

1) It does a good job of tackling a tough topic without being frightening, but the pace is a little too fast and it is almost too silly at times, at least for the younger crowd (my kids are 3 and 4). My kids seemed to pick up too much on the goofiness instead of the message (my son would start running around doing karate kicks after that segment). It just means it may take several viewings and more explanation from parents for the message to really sink in.

2) I think the video stops short of covering everything necessary to make it a 5-star video for me - specifically what to do when your child gets into an uncomfortable situation with a "sorta know". It does a great job of explaining how to AVOID these situations (not getting into a car with your coach, not keeping secrets with your dad's buddy, etc.) however I wish it had taken it a step further and said what to do if he/she should find him/herself in an uncomfortable situation despite precautions. For instance, explain there are parts of the body that are never OK to be touched, that secrets regarding these areas are never OK, and that they should trust their instincts and if it feels wrong, say no and tell your safe-side adult.

If that type of information is important to you, don't expect to get it from this video. Once again it is a great starting off point, but I recommend supplementing this video with books such as "Your Body Belongs to You" or "The Right Touch" (for the younger kids).

Obviously a great message, if you can hear it with all the sound effects and craziness going on. I dont think the kids got much information out of it. There was so much going on in the movie with gorillas, clowns, and giant dogs that its hard to get the message across. I gave it 3 stars because its the only safety video I have seen and it does teach a little but it could have been much better.

This is a fantastic video to teach children about strangers and what to do in various situations. My son is 6 years old and we started talking more seriously about what to do about strangers. He LOVES this video. He thinks it is funny, but understands what it is trying to teach him. During and after watching it (many, many times!), he always wants to talk about various situations (what if...) and what he should do. I HIGHLY recommend this to anyone with a child, grandchild, etc 4years or older. The video was put together very well - addressing serious issues in a fun way for children to understand.

I was skeptical when I heard about this, and saw commercials for it. But, I found that I just wasn't getting through to my 2 + 4 year olds, so I decided this movie was worth a try.

I am SO GLAD I bought this movie. It is NOT scary, which was important to me. It gets the message across without scaring the kids. My 4 year old has really started to grasp the topic, and knows who his "Safe-side adults" are, and even tells me "She is really nice, but she's still just a "Kinda-know", huh mom?!" My 2 year old is too young to grasp the concept, but still really enjoys watching it, and she will start to understand over time.

We havn't really noticed the sound changes, we just love the movie, and since I wasn't expecting much from the quality, I was pleasently supprised at how well put-together I though this movie is.

When used with parent-child descussions & teaching, this movie is one of the best resources I've found that addresses the safety and street-smarts of out children. It should be a part of EVERY family video library.

I HIGHLY RECCOMEND THIS MOVIE!!!

I was a big fan of the Baby Einstein videos, and I recently saw John Walsh on Fox talking about this video coming out, so I purchased it right away. My 4 year old daughter has watched it at least 20 times in the last 3 or 4 days, and walks around quoting the movie "Help, this is not my mom, help, this is not my dad", which is what it teaches should a stranger attempt to lure your child away. In the past I've tried explaining strangers to her and why we don't leave with one, etc., but she never got it. This video did the trick somehow! I have no doubt this video will ultimately save a childs life out there. I would not let the day go by without ordering this for your little one. It may save their life. I also recommend buying a copy for your childs daycare or school. THANK YOU Julie Clark and John Walsh.

This video is the Best Ever! I just came accross it at the library and picked it up not having heard of it. My 4 1/2 year old was home sick with a cold... About 1 hour after we had watched it together I was in the shower and my Daughter came in and told me that there was someone at the door but that she wasn't going to answer it because her Safe Side Adult could not go with her !! Good Job !! Yesterday we were at the bank and a Man said hello to her and she told him "I can not tell you my name because I do not know you" ... later that day we were at the park and a lady told me that my Daughter told her the same thing... I have to get her to understand that she should not approach Don't Knows... The ground work is set though and I am very sure that she will be able to apply what she has learned to her everyday life. This is a really great video.. the Actress is totally adorable and engaging !