Strollerderby

the really scary par of any fire safety lesson is when the firefighter dresses up in full gear- this scares even some adults! The hope behind this scary momemnt is that the kiddos will remember the friendly person inside the gear if/when they are ever in a real fire situation...think of how much scarier seeing a person in fire gear in a smoky room would be if you couldn't think of the person underneath it all and even though it induces nightmares etc there have been informal studies done (think of firefolks asking young fire victims how they stayed calm in the fire) that show a lot of kids really do remember "that nice fireman" even though at the time in the classroom they were scared of them

When our preschool group visited the fire station, the big safety issue they addressed was "Do Not Run Away Or Hide From the Fireman".  Two firemen gave them a little talk, with one helping the other to put gear on while they spoke, ending with a guy in full gear.  I thought this was a brilliant way to address an issue I hadn't ever thought of.  It never would have occured to me to tell the kids hiding from a fireman was a bad idea, and they all liked seeing him go from a 'regular' person to a 'fireman'.  Nobody seemed scared at all.