Gentle Lessons About Personal Safety

Video

“CPR--Learn to Save a Life,” Safety Features Inc. 40 minutes. $20. (877) CPR-VIDEO. This video is pricier than you might expect, but it’s extremely thorough, careful and easy to follow. CPR instructor and paramedic Charles Procter gives adult viewers invaluable information, methodically guiding them through CPR, rescue breathing and the Heimlich maneuver in three segments, each pertaining to a different age group: adults, children and infants. Procter includes clear reviews and cautions for safety.

“Smart About Strangers,” Village Video Productions. 23 minutes. $20. For ages 5 to 12. (800) 383-8811. Another somewhat pricey instructional video, although a portion of the proceeds go to the Polly Klass Foundation. And there is real value in these safety lessons, presented in non-scary ways. Here, the message to kids is, “It’s not how strong you are, it’s how smart you are,” as some real people--self-conscious and earnest teachers and kids--show young viewers how they can help protect themselves by being aware of ploys people use to lure them away, and how to stay out of reach and maintain a personal space. Children also are shown ways that they may be able to break away from an adult who grabs their arm, shoulder or wrist.

“Safe Kids: The Way Back Home,” Plaza Entertainment/Family Universal Network. 30 minutes. $9. https://www.amazon.com/. Here, the message about stranger safety is delivered theatrically, in a story featuring Erin Gray, “Home Improvement’s” Taran Smith and Bryton McClure from “Family Matters.” Smith plays Kevin, a 12-year-old who feels invincible, although there’s something about kids’ faces on milk cartons that gets to him.

In class, after falling asleep from boredom during a police officer’s visit to talk about child safety, Kevin finds himself in “Carton World,” where he sees his own face on a milk carton. He learns from Officer Miller, other missing kids and a watchful school custodian how to be alert to danger and avoid being a victim.

Proceeds from sales of the video benefit Child Quest International Inc., a nonprofit group that aids in the protection and recovery of missing, abused and exploited children.