Today, I have the pleasure of introducing Erika Trainor.

Erika is the director of development with Little Iguana.

Little Iguana's Children's Safety foundation is a 513 nonprofit foundation that educates and empowers children to be safe, happy, and healthy through music based programs and resources to teach lessons covering over 20 safety and wellbeing topics.

Through their programs and resources for home and classroom use, they strive to instill essential life saving lessons, promote positive social interactions, nurture literacy, and foster a culture of safety and well being in communities.

With this mission, they aim to prevent abduction, trafficking, abuse, and serious accidental injuries while empowering children to lead safe and fulfilling lives.

That is an awesome bio.

I am so looking forward to this conversation with you.

Erica.

Welcome to.

Welcome to bringing Education Home.

Thank you so much for having us.

And I know that intro is like super long, and you're thinking like, how are they going to prevent abduction, trafficking, abuse, serious accidental injuries?

And that's through all of the lessons that we cover.

We have over 20 safety and well being topics that we cover everything from online safety and friendship and kindness to looking left, right, and left again before you cross the street, buckling up your seatbelt, wearing your bike helmet.

Who's a stranger?

What's that weird feeling I get when I know something's not right?

That I just need to share it with an adult?

You know, everything in between.

And I know that we'll, we'll talk more about that.

Oh, that is so amazing.

Because, you know, you're the program that when I was in the classroom, I wish I had more access to, because every summer and at the end of second grade, we would always go into summer safety, and we would talk about a lot of those things.

What is your water safety?

What is your bicycle safety?

What is your stranger safety?

All of those things.

And this sounds like a lot more fun than the way I did it, but although I think I did.

Did a pretty good job.

Yeah, absolutely.

So everything like we've been talking about is taught through music, which is such an effective way to teach children.

We use play learning, interactive role playing demonstration, and just fun so kids don't really realize that they're learning, which is something, you know, we had talked about before we started this podcast.

We want kids to know how to learn and enjoy learning and actually have fun doing it so that they're gonna remember it, because if they're just reading something for a test later, they're not going to remember it and they're not going to really absorb it.

So that's why we do it through music, because if you think about like, you know, what song were you listening to when you were in high school?

If that song comes on the radio, you can sing every word, but you have no idea what you were learning in high school.

Like, you don't remember that stuff.

Yeah, it's kind of funny.

You listen to those songs now and you go back, it's like, wow, I can't believe I didn't understand these lyrics.

And the meaning behind it is like, oh, that was just a fun song that I knew all the words to.

And now as an adult, you sing those songs.

It's like, whoa.

But anyway, let's go back to the beginning.

How did you get started with little iguana?

What was the impetus?

How did you find it?

Where did you start with this?

Why did you get involved with little iguana?

Well, the little Iguana Children's Safety foundation is a family venture and a family journey.

So my dad is the executive director and he founded the organization 30 years ago as a way to teach me, my brother and my sister ways to keep us safe.

So he started with, you know, stranger danger and just looking both ways before you cross the street, wearing your bike helmet, simple things like that.

And then with, you know, the help of educators and professionals in the, in the field, he developed over 20 safety and well being lessons.

And when I was getting ready to graduate from college, I told him I'd give him a year of my life to, you know, modernize the business and get everything up to speed and, you know, put things on YouTube and Spotify and, you know, all those places for him.

And that was twelve years ago, so that's awesome.

So not only do we have a great business and safety product, we have a family business.

So those family values, the family traditions, everything is coming through this product as well.

That awesome.

And I love how you said, oh, it's just going to give him one year and then it's like twelve years later.

Yeah, yeah, he can't get rid of me and he doesn't want to, so.

Exactly.

Matter of fact, when we were having our pre chat, it was funny because I was talking with your dad, he's like, yeah, you know, I just talk to people.

But then Erica comes in and she just makes it all better, which is absolutely amazing.

Yeah, he, he has such great passion for, I mean, this organization, obviously, it's been something that he's worked on for 30 years and he has, you know, such passion for keeping kids safe and empowering them to be safe.

And healthy and kind, but when it comes to the technical stuff, yeah.

He's like, just.

Just wait for Erica to do that because I have no idea how to make a coupon code or send this or do this or link this.

So it's a good team.

That brings me to the question is, when he started it, was there a story behind that?

Was there a dangerous situation that you and your siblings were in, or was what was the start of that?

Where does this come from?

Absolutely.

So in our area in Cambridge, Massachusetts, there was a young boy named Jeffrey Curley who was abducted, and he was taken over state lines, and, you know, some terrible things happened to him.

And it was all over the news.

And, you know, even back then, it was in newspapers, on the news, you know, everywhere you turn, they were talking about this story.

And my dad actually owned a marketing and screen printing company at the time.

And my brother and I used to go and hang out with him after school, you know, check out the business.

And he had these big plastic totes that he would keep the t shirts in when the order was done or when it was getting prepped.

And a big part of that story, the Jeffrey Curley story, was that the men had put him in a crate and taken him.

So my brother actually had heard the story, and we didn't, I don't think we really understood it.

We were very young.

But my brother had said to my dad, oh, that's so weird that that boy, you know, was put in that crate.

Like, I'm so much bigger than him and I can't, I mean, I'm so much smaller than him, and I could never fit.

Like, he went in the crate.

He's like, I can't fit in this crate.

Like, how did they do that?

How.

And, like, how are you going to keep us safe?

Like, would that ever happen to me?

You know, like, how am I going to, like, avoid that?

So it was really eye opening for my dad.

And he had been doing Lil iguana a little bit.

He had created the program, and actually the task force to prevent child abuse in New Hampshire was using the program in schools and doing it at different events, and he decided that he needed to do this full time after that.

You know, that was his kind of, like, eye opening thing.

Like, we really need this program.

A lot of kids need this program.

And this is my.

This is my commitment now.

This is my job forever.

Yeah.

So two things out of that.

One, when you were describing your dad, I remember Christina telling me about talking with her dad, and, like, he and I would get along really well, she said, and that his daughter would be coming on to do the podcast.

So I remember that.

But she does all of that just like you do most of the time.

I just come on and do the talking.

She does all the background stuff.

So that is actually kind of funny to me.

And the second is little iguana.

Where does Iguana come into this?

Where is the name 30 years ago?

So it's so weird because 30 years ago, that was like the Jurassic park era, and that was the number one pet being sold, and that wasn't a mascot for any other organization.

You know, we didn't have like a dog or a bear, you know, something like that.

So we had an iguana because it was unique and that's how low iguana came about.

I love it.

So there's not like a way that iguanas are safer or something?

It just.

Not that I know of, but that is our mascot.

Awesome.

I love that so much.

Awesome.

Well, one thing, as we love talking with our, you know, our guests, and we love dropping tips for our parents, so as we continue talking, thinking about that.

But what's one tip that they can do right now?

Parents that would help keep their children safe?

We hear it all the time, but let's get a specific tip going in their brain right now.

So first, I just want to start generally and just start the conversation.

So whether you know everything about the topic that you're going to be talking about or you're kind of like, winging it, it's good to just open that line of communication and start talking to your children about safety in general or a specific topic.

And the one that we talk about the most is who's a stranger.

So how we teach a stranger, you know, in the world, we hear a stranger could be a good person, it could be a bad person, it could be a scary person.

It could be a person that wears, like, a trench coat, you know, like, who is a stranger?

I don't know.

So we teach a stranger is anyone that you don't have permission to go with right then and there.

So you just need to get permission, and then that person's not considered a stranger anymore.

So a stranger could be someone you know, it could be someone that you don't know.

You just need to get permission first.

It could be a good person.

It could be a bad person.

So if you're in the grocery store and someone comes up to you and starts talking to you, you just need to turn to the adult in charge that's right there.

And you need to get permission from them.

And what is permission?

We teach it super simple for kids.

Three easy steps.

Eyeballs.

Ask.

Yes.

So you need to look the adult in charge right in the eyeballs.

And that's a funny word.

So kids are going to remember it.

You're going to ask if you can do something or if you can go somewhere with someone.

And then you need to get a yes.

And if you have those three steps, you have permission, and that person's not considered a stranger anymore.

But remember, you need to get permission each time you want to go somewhere or you want to do something.

Because Mister Jones across the street, you know, you say hi to him every day when you come home from school, and then one day he says, hey, do you want to come in my house and have a snack and watch a movie?

Well, we just need to get permission first.

Love it.

Absolutely love it.

I love how you made it into those three simple steps because the kids, like you said, the kids will pay attention.

Eyeball.

Yeah, they like eyeballs.

Eyeballs.

Eyeballs a lot.

And it's really amazing because that's, you know, one of the key things that we talk about with communication as well is, like, when you're communicating, when you really want to get a point across, you need to be looking at the person.

You need to be really paying attention, being focused.

So those eyeballs are amazing.

And then that.

Yes, please make sure you hear that.

Yes.

Yes.

And another, another thing that I really liked about that is a lot of the bad things that happen are from people that, you know, sometimes it's family.

Yes.

Because almost 90% of abductions are going to be taking place from someone the child knows.

So we can't teach it as it's someone that you don't know because it could be someone that you do know.

So instead of saying it like that, we just need to get permission from the adult in charge first.

So that's your mom who's watching you.

You're at grandma's house, you're at your babysitter.

You know, whoever is in charge of you at that time, you just need to get permission first so that they know where you're going and who you're going with.

Yes.

And that is so very, very important.

And one of the things that you know, that also brings up is that, you know, like, well, like you said, you might know the person across the street.

You say hi to them all the time.

But until your parents really know them.

Right.

And parents want to know where you are just to keep you safe.

Absolutely.

And even if your parents are best friends with that person, you just need to get permission first so that they know where you're going to be and who you're going to be with.

And it's super simple.

Eyeballs ask.

Yes.

Yeah, that.

That's.

That's an interesting thing that I also did with my teenage boys is kind of.

Kind of something similar.

It's like, okay, I understand you're going to be there.

You have my permission.

If you're.

And you're autonomous, you know, I know you're not asking me permission, but if you're going to move, if.

So you say you're going over to your friend Eric's house.

If you're going to go from Eric's house over to your friend Troy's house, it's like, I don't have a problem with you moving.

You get to make that decision, but you need to tell me that you're moving.

And I made it kind of funny, too, because if something happens, I need to know where to go look for your body.

Right.

Yeah.

Unfortunately, that is sometimes the scary reality that we're not trying to teach that scary side to kids.

So we teach it in a fun and light way, but we need to know.

But also that gravity in there, too.

The teenagers with the older.

So my son was really good at that.

Hey, I'm over here.

We're going to be walking this direction, and we're going to be hanging out over here, and it's like, awesome.

Have fun.

And so I, you know, it wasn't that I was keeping tabs on him, but like I said, it's, like, for safety.

I want to know where to come look for you if something goes wrong.

Absolutely.

So, actually, I saw a Facebook post the other day, and I was just completely flabbergasted that I was reading what I was reading, and it was from, like, a sheriff's department somewhere.

And the sheriff said, you know, your high schooler just got in a car accident.

Their phone is broken, and we can't find out who to call because your teenager doesn't know their name, their phone number, their address in their memory.

So that's one of the things I even taught as second graders, like, you know, what's your name and address and what's mom and dad's name?

So how do you go about that?

Where do you bring that?

And when should kill children be learning their name?

Their full name, their full address, their full phone number, their parents names?

Yeah, I think as early as they can.

We do have, like, worksheets and resources that actually talk about, you know, mom has a name, dad has a name.

What is that name?

How would you get in touch with them?

We have a little house, like, where do I live?

What is a phone number that I can use to reach them?

And then we have a sheet, like, all about me, what's my birthday, what's my favorite color, you know, things like that.

So I think as, as children can learn, it's really important.

We have programs and resources that are for as young as age two all the way up to age ten.

So we do, obviously, teach different ways for age two than we do for age ten.

But we do have programs and resources available for such a young age because it's like I said, it's great to just get that conversation started and then you can slowly integrate the details, you know, as they start learning.

Yeah, it's amazing how well that actually works because I'm old and in the seventies, when I was going to school, I lived in California, and my parents moved to Oregon when I was eight years old.

I still remember my address.

I don't remember my last three addresses since I've been an adult, because we've been living here for the last 20 plus years.

Yeah, but I remember my address when I was in kindergarten.

First grade was 4544 West 133rd Street, Hawthorne, California.

That will never leave my memory forever and ever because.

Because of that being drilled into me in school and by my parents.

So it's like, I don't know how they did that, whether it was a game or whatnot.

But, yeah, I still, I still remember that address, and I don't remember so many of my other addresses.

Yeah, but it's also because you learned it so young, too, you know, so that is, like, embedded and ingrained forever because you've had it since a young age.

And so, yeah, that's a great thing to do for your children, and hopefully you don't move too much.

Right, exactly.

So you said that one of the other things that you do is not only talking teach about safety, but, like, kindness and things.

Can you, can you tell me about those links and how you kind of started branching into those areas as well?

Sure.

So, like I said, the foundation's 30 years old.

So back then, like, Internet safety didn't exist.

Like, that wasn't necessary.

And as we're, like, growing and evolving, kindness is just such a thing that.

But it's needed, you know, everywhere that we see, I think it's something that originally may have been taught at home and maybe has been left to be taught in the classroom.

And I think there's, you know, maybe a little bit of a gap there.

So we're just trying to close the gap and just teach, you know, treat everyone the way you want to be treated.

It's easy to be kind.

We have kindness wristbands that we give out in schools and at our community events that just say, it's easy to be kind.

It's just like a constant reminder that, you know, share a smile.

It goes a long way.

We have tons of work sheets and workbooks on kindness.

We do actually have a free kindness workbook that anyone who's listening can get as well.

And it's just a great way to start that conversation about what kindness is.

What are ways that you can show kindness?

Why should you be showing kindness, you know, understanding the empathy part of it?

Because that's a huge thing for kids.

Like, why should I even do these things?

You know, every, I always get those questions whenever we do programs with kids.

Why?

Why?

Why?

Why?

So why are we being kind to people?

I think that's really important just to start those conversations.

And like you said, kindness, we also, you know, do well being.

And, like, being a good friend is super important, but also, like, washing your hands, you know, and having personal hygiene.

That's super important.

And we saw that, you know, how that impacted so many of our lives four or five years ago now, but you need to wash your hands for 20 seconds or more, things like that, you know, like what we consider maybe as common sense, but you still need to teach common sense to kids.

Like, they don't know those things.

So that's why we find it really important.

Yeah, and I love, because, you know, you have to be the role model.

How do kids learn?

They learn by watching and listening and by sharing and explaining.

And when I talk with some of my parents, it's like, they're like, oh, well, I feel like I'm talking to my child too much.

It's like, well, what do you mean?

And they're like, well, I'm explaining everything.

It's like, yeah, but when they're little, they need that because they can't read your mind, but they can hear what you're saying.

Oh, I'm stepping over this so I don't trip over it.

Then they, yeah, but it's over.

Why?

You know, why do I need to step over that?

Oh, so I don't trip.

Oh, that makes sense.

So it's not, then it's not like, oh, I'm not going to do that.

You know, it's not the defiance thing either, because they're understanding exactly why they need to do that.

And then it builds the vocabulary and it builds the understanding between the two people about what all of this means and everything that's going on.

So you happen to mention Internet safety.

Let's go there.

Do you have a specific tip or something that you want parents to know about Internet safety?

Sure.

So we think of the Internet as a big city, and we wouldn't let our children wander around a big city without some kind of supervision.

So it's really important to talk to your kids about one getting permission before they go online.

So that's on their tablet or their phone or the computer, or if they're playing video games or anything like that, they need to get permission first.

And at that time, you're going to be talking about the rules that they need to follow when they're online, who they can talk to, what websites they can visit, what apps they can use.

So it's all about getting permission first.

Next, we need to talk about our harm alarm.

And that is that weird feeling that you get inside when you know something's just not right.

It's like your inner alarm clock that's ringing when you're like, hmm, that's kind of weird.

I don't really like that, or I need to share that weird feeling.

So we talk about our harm alarm.

So anytime you see something or read something or are talking to someone and your harm alarm goes off, you need to stop what you're doing right away, and you need to go get an adult, and you need to share that what just happened and share that feeling with an adulthood.

We're never giving out personal information.

What my name is, what my age is, where I go to school, where I live, we're never talking to people that we don't know or we don't have permission to talk to.

We're never agreeing to meet someone.

As nice as they may seem online, people may be different from how they act online in person.

So we're never agreeing to meet anyone.

So I think the major things are just getting permission, talking about your harm alarm, never giving out personal information, and never agreeing to meet someone.

Excellent.

Yes.

That covers so many of the things that pops into my brain.

And, you know, it's really one of those things.

If parents really think about when you set a boundary, when you set an expectation of you need to ask permission, then guess what?

Beautiful communication can happen.

You understand where your child is and what's happening?

They understand that you care about them.

There is so much to that.

Instead of just handing over a device and saying, oh, yeah, just do whatever you want.

Do whatever you want.

Yeah.

And another great point is talking about, like, shared spaces.

So, like, using the Internet or using a device in a shared space so that you can supervise, you know, as necessary and check in as necessary, as opposed to, you know, in a locked room somewhere, like, oh, I have no idea what you're doing.

Even though we did talk about, like, getting permission and we set those expectations and those rules and those boundaries, it's always good to have, you know, a shared space where you can kind of check in every once in a while.

So in that you also talk about background awareness.

So, like, if you have a picture of your school on the wall behind you, don't be sending pictures of that.

If you have you, like, your school or your name on your jacket, do you talk about being aware of your space?

And what does that, is that any of that covered?

Because sometimes people can.

Absolutely.

But, like, there's these videos.

Yeah.

That's like, think, and I can't think of all the things that it stands for right now, but we have it.

And it's like, you know, is this a nice thing that you're going to be saying to someone?

Is this.

I can't think of anything.

But, you know, there's like, a couple things that we talk about, and one of them is like, am I giving out any of my, you know, personal information with how I'm talking or things that I'm saying and, you know, stuff like that or things that are being seen.

So that is something else that we talk about because, you know, we, we just talked about the rules.

But also, you need to talk about how you're going to be acting when you're online.

So you're not going to be, you know, interacting with someone and, you know, putting them down or using, you know, inappropriate language or words?

You know, we're talking about those things as well.

How you're going to be acting and showing kindness online because you want to be treating others.

How you want to be treated.

Yeah, because again, coming back to that, there's this one guy that I've started watching shorts on, on YouTube, and he'll, it's a, it's this weird Google Earth kind of a game, and he'll have, like, a picture of something.

It's like, oh, that sign, this kind of a corner, this kind of a light, and he will pinpoint exactly where in that world that is in like 6 seconds building.

And.

And he can, like, zoom in to, like, within feet of where that picture was taken.

And.

And he is just amazing at that.

So, again, your background, what's going on around.

That's everything is everything.

Because people can say, oh, hey, that kind of tree that only grows in this part of the world and zoom in and figure out.

And it's like, oh, hey, that tree, that house, the way that's set up.

Okay.

You live there.

It's crazy the way what people can do now.

Absolutely.

And I think that goes back to a lot of it about getting permission, too.

So we shouldn't be posting things or we shouldn't be talking to people that we don't know.

So that would also, you know, eliminate a lot of that weird, weird behavior that could possibly pop up from other people.

We need to make sure that we're not sharing things about ourselves, and we need to make sure that we're not posting things publicly.

We're only posting things for people that we know.

Yeah.

I love how you were using the rhyming words, the harm alarm, that because it keeps it in the brain, but then it also really helps the kids understand the harm alarm.

And another way that you could talk about, of course, that is your gut or your instinct.

Yep.

It's your inner.

It's that inner voice that's saying something's just not right.

And when you hear that voice, you need to tell someone, it's your gut feeling.

It's that.

That weird feeling that you're getting inside in your chest.

Or maybe you're just feeling embarrassed or scared or sad or nervous.

All of those feelings are okay.

They just need to be shared with an adulthood when you're feeling them.

Yeah.

As Gen Xers, that was a foreign concept to us because, you know, we're a feral generation, and we didn't, you know, we didn't get to talk to our parents about stuff like that.

Yeah.

Now we're encouraging to have those conversations.

Whether you're on the car ride home from the grocery store.

How are you feeling today?

Why are you feeling like that?

You know, finding those routines and those patterns of open communication so that we talk about things when they're happening and things that are making us feel weird to at that time and not 30 years from now in therapy, you know, we're talking about it and addressing it, hopefully.

We didn't know how to.

Our parents didn't talk to us about this, and so we didn't necessarily talk to our children's about children about it the same way children, our children about.

So where do they learn it?

And that's why hiring a coach, working with someone like Erica at little iguana can help so much, because we didn't have the vocabulary.

We didn't know how to bring these conversations up or talk about the stuff.

And it was a whole different world when our children were children, and so now their children are a completely whole different world than where we were at.

And so how do they learn to deal with the modern stuff?

And so working with people who are current and understand this.

Yeah.

And we make it super easy for parents.

We give you discussion prompts and scripts and, you know, reinforcing worksheets and how to start those conversations.

And we have, you know, resources like our feelings calendar, where every day you talk to your child about how they're feeling or they can do it on their own, they're going to indicate on the day, you know, they're feeling sad today, they're feeling happy or nervous or excited.

And we have 20 emotions that you can talk about, and you actually see a picture of what that emotion is going to look like and how you're going to feel.

And it's a great conversation starter for parents as well, because if you see every Tuesday, your child is nervous.

Okay, well, what are you doing on Tuesdays?

Why do you feel nervous on Tuesdays?

Are you nervous because we're going to swim lessons or is there something else that's going on that day that's making you feel that way?

And then how can we make it so that you don't feel nervous every Tuesday?

You know, so it's a good conversation starter as well.

Yeah.

I'm 54, and I still have problems with a lot of that, and I still don't do that.

Just.

Yeah.

So the earlier you can learn to do that, the more you can grow with it in your life instead of trying to teach an old dog new tricks instead of trying to bring this in.

Yeah.

While they're young and grow with it, and it's so much more healthier.

So what are some other well being topics that you have?

Let me think well being because we.

Had washing hands, that was kind of well being.

That's like physical safety.

Yeah.

Let me just go to our 20 lessons that I work with every single day because I'm drawing a blank on.

What puts you on the spot.

Well, it's kind of funny because you brought up washing the hands.

I grew up out in the country, and we would leave the house in the morning and come back in the afternoon, and we would eat dirt and get stuff in our mouth all day.

And so I don't necessarily wash my hands all the time because I picked up all of that stuff as a kid.

But city kids who've never been out playing in the dirt, who've never been out getting grungy and dirty, they don't have the same kind of immune system built up as people that have grown up in the country.

So washing your hands is very important because you're much more likely to get sick.

And so there's also, you know, sorry.

That was about it.

I was just going to expand while you were.

While you were going there.

So there's also, like, where you grew up, how the safety kind of things change.

Absolutely.

And especially the environment that you're in all day.

So some kids that we're working with are in a traditional education classroom all day.

So they're getting germs from door handles and stairwells and desks and other kids that are bringing it from, you know, their homes in.

So the hand washing part is very important, like covering up coughs and sneezes, washing before you're eating, not sharing food while you're eating.

You know, just general health in that sense is really important for kids that are going to be in a more traditional school environment where they're not necessarily only seeing their, their close family or friends, you know, every day in a homeschool setting.

But going back to your wellbeing question, I think we just kind of talked a little bit about it is feelings and just emotional regulation.

So we have lessons like cool and calm on how you're going to be able to use calming techniques and feeling techniques in order to regulate your emotions throughout the day so that you're not going from zero to ten every time you're recognizing whether something's a small problem or problem maybe I need help with or something I can solve on my own.

So we do have rote resources for that as well.

Um, different, like, techniques we didn't have.

I didn't even have this when I was growing up.

You know, like tracing your finger on a calming wheel or a different shape where you're going to breathe in when you go up and then breathe out for 3 seconds when you, you trace your finger down.

Or, um, we have a worksheet where Lil Iguana is holding a cupcake and we say, you know, blow out the candle for him.

So something like that, it's just the calming and that's more of, like, social emotional learning.

And we have an sel specialist at Lil Iguana.

That is amazing and has language and that I can never express to you.

You know, she's trained in this, and she's trained to work with kids on emotional regulation, and she is absolutely amazing.

When I see her videos, we have a new video that's released every week, and when her videos come out, I'm like, this is so good.

She's like, I know.

I do this every day.

I'm like, I know, but it's just so good.

Like, I would never have thought to describe it that way for a child.

So, obviously, we all have our specialties, but that is hers.

She does, you know, cool and calm social, emotional learning, making sure you have empathy and kindness for everyone, and also, like, motivation, affirmations, having a positive outlook, those kind of things.

Yeah.

And I like that you brought in breathing, but.

But through a different way.

We had.

We had bells in her classroom.

I.

Again, I'm kind of the weird guy.

So her classroom had.

She had a rough year, and so I brought in this bell that she put on her computer and said it at random times.

And there was three different sounds.

And on one bell, they just would stop, put their heads down, and take a breath.

And in one bell, they would all stand up and then take a long breath in and breathe out.

That's awesome.

And just those minute, either the five, the 15, or the 32nd breath work just made a tremendous difference in her class and could change the atmosphere.

So breathing is such an.

Everybody breathes, but so very few people breathe correctly.

So teaching children a couple breathing exercises to calm down, that's just absolutely amazing.

And I love that you brought that in.

Yeah.

And like I said, our Sel specialist is just so amazing with the language and the way that she uses the description and the way she talks to the kids about it is just awesome.

Something I could never do.

Whenever, like I said, whenever I hear her messages, I'm like, oh, my gosh, this is so good.

That is amazing.

So do you do them for yourself?

Yeah, actually, it's good for children and adults.

Yes, definitely.

Even grandma and grandpa sometimes need those.

Good.

Yeah.

Everyone needs just to take a breath every once in a while.

Yeah.

That's kind of one of the secrets of what we do is as the parents are learning how to work with the children, they're actually getting these lessons and changing their lives as well.

So, you know, that's why we call it bringing education home, because it's not just educating the children.

The parents learned so much that they might have missed and get some foundation work as they're working with their children.

So it's a lovely way to incorporate healing of the adults as well as.

Teaching of the children and just basic safety lessons as well, like wearing your seatbelt every time before the car starts to move.

Everyone needs to buckle up their seatbelt.

And you went too quick.

If you didn't hear the click, if you hear the click, you know that your seatbelt is securely fastened.

If you didn't hear that click, you went too quick.

And we've been doing these programs for 30 years now.

So we've had millions of people impacted, thousands of testimonials and positive stories that have come out of it.

And we've had so many stories that have started where it was a complaint or like an issue for a parent, and it's turned into a really great positive outcome.

We had a mom who's daughter told her, started telling, like, had seen one of our programs in her school and had started telling her, you know, mom, everyone needs to have their seatbelt on before the car can start to move.

And her mom called us and was very upset because she doesn't wear a seatbelt, and she doesn't need a seatbelt.

And her daughter keeps telling her she has to wear a seatbelt.

Flash forward, you know, almost two years later, she called us back because her suv rolled over on the highway.

And if she wasn't wearing her seatbelt that her daughter had, you know, ingrained in her as an adult, maybe she wouldn't be with us anymore.

So she had called us back and said, you know what?

I take back everything I said about that because everyone needs to have their seatbelt on.

So I think it's really great to have the kids sometimes teaching the adults in their life as well these important safety and well being lessons.

Yeah.

So, again, I'm not sure if this was part of the show, but we're Gen X.

We grew up in the seventies.

I rode around in the back of pickup trucks, the station wagon.

Sometimes in the back, you would sit, lay in the dash in the back.

Dash in the sun.

And so, yes, as kids, we, seatbelts were not a thing that kind of saved.

And none of us really, we're still here, so many of us.

But we learned adolescents when it became a law.

It's like, I started wearing.

I it's kind of weird.

When Oregon passed the seatbelt law, I didn't vote in that election.

And because I didn't vote, my weird ethics kicked in is like, okay, I didn't vote against it, so I have to wear my seatbelt.

She did vote, and she voted against it.

And so I didn't bother her about wearing her seatbelt because she took a stand and I didn't.

So I had to deal with the consequences.

That's kind of the way my brain works.

But then something happened and she got in trouble, and so then she started wearing her seatbelt.

Now whenever I get in a car, if I don't have a seatbelt on, it just feels weird.

It feels weird?

Yeah, absolutely.

It's like leaving your house without your phone.

We didn't have phones for years.

I remember when I first got my first smartphone.

Want a smartphone?

I'll just take my flip phone.

I just dial, I talk to people, texting, blah, blah, blah.

Now I can't even imagine if I leave my house without my phone, I have to turn around and come back and get it because I feel like I've left an essential part home.

So that that's how you should view the seatbelt, too.

So it's like, once that, once that clicks in, it's amazing how that takes over.

Yeah.

And just think about when you're talking about how you didn't wear seatbelts growing up.

Like, people didn't have phones in their car, like, there wasn't as much distracted driving happening.

So, you know, we live in a very fast paced world now, and people are constantly going, going.

They're late for something.

They are speeding.

They're maybe checking their phone.

So maybe you're the best driver in the entire world, but maybe someone else isn't.

So that's why you always need to wear your seatbelt, because it's not just about keeping the people like that, you know, are definitely safe in your car, but someone may interfere with that.

So that's why it's really important to always buckle up.

Yep.

Yep.

That was very well said.

That was very well said.

Yes.

So, one more thing for our family.

So we've talked a lot about starting young, about talking about all these safety things.

What if the parents kind of missed the boat?

Their kids are a little bit older.

What's a tip that you can give them to start the conversations?

I would say start, like, watching, listening to the music.

You can stream all of our educational music on all of the streaming platforms.

We have videos that you can watch on YouTube, worksheets and educational resources that you can print and you can use in your home.

So, yes, you may have started a little late, you're saying, but the messages are still there to learn.

So who's a stranger.

You can still teach that lesson at any age.

It doesn't matter how old they are.

Maybe you're teaching it a little bit differently.

Maybe you're not using the discussion prompts that we give you for preschool age children.

Maybe you're using the discussion prompts for ages eight to ten, but you're still able to use, use those, those conversation starters and start talking about these important safety messages.

So that inner voice, you know, maybe you didn't talk about that when they were very young, but you can still talk about that now.

And you can talk about maybe things that they wanted to talk about when they were younger or that they had weird feelings about.

So you can still, you can still have those conversations and then you can bring them, you know, into the future.

Thank you.

Yes.

Yeah.

Because a lot of times the teenagers don't talk to parents is because they were never allowed to, and then they stopped trying.

And so you actually start trying.

A lot of times I will just wake that back up and you can build that relationship back and just make.

It part of your routine, too.

So those conversations are really important to have as part of a routine because then your child feels open to communication and it's part of the routine of like, oh, when we, you know, ride home from whatever sport or whatever activity that we're doing, how did that make you feel?

How are you doing today?

If they start practicing expressing themselves, it's going to become automatic when they need to share something.

You know, if you have that open line of communication and then something just doesn't feel right to them, they're going to have that motivation to come forward right then and there and say, you know, something was kind of weird that happened today and how are we going to talk about it?

Love it, love it, love it.

Thank you.

Well, Erica, you have been such a gem to have on the show.

All these cool tips, all these excellent information, and this has been a wonderful conversation.

Would you make sure that you let our audience know how to get a hold of you?

And of course, everything will be in the show notes, but we like saying it out loud as well.

How can they get.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

So on our website, lolaguanausa.org, you're going to find all of our lessons.

We have over 20 safety and wellbeing lessons, and you can click on any of those lessons and you can find resources, worksheets.

We have a story time podcast for kids.

We have educational music.

We have different videos that you can watch.

So you could click on any of our lessons and you're going to find like, a wealth of resources that you can use to either start the conversation, start teaching, talk about how you're going to teach it, why you need to teach it, or just ways to reinforce a lesson if you've already started that conversation.

So that is super important.

Um, like I was mentioning before, all of our educational music, you can stream Spotify, Apple Music, iHeartRadio, YouTube.

I can't think of any other ones, but we're on all of them.

Uh, we also have a storytime podcast that kids can listen to in the car or at home or right before bedtime.

The story is about eight to ten minutes long, and they just reinforce safety and well being themes while the characters Lil Iguana, you know, navigate his world of problem solving.

So we have the storytime podcast that's called Lil Iguana and Friends.

And then, like I said, you can connect with us through all of our social media accounts.

Facebook, Instagram, TikTok at Lola, Guana safety.

Wonderful.

Thank you so very, very much.

Is there anything that we didn't get to that you kind of want to talk about today?

Is there something that you're like, oh, I really want to make sure I mention this when I'm on the show.

I think it's just important to get that conversation started.

I know we keep talking about it, but it's never too late to start.

It's never too late to start talking about kindness or stranger danger or water safety or poison safety or being a good friend.

You know, those are all things that I think it's really important to talk to kids about.

And it's never too late to start.

And if you feel like you can't start or you don't know where to start, our website has tons of resources.

We also have our digital membership safety up, where you're going to get a monthly action planned emailed to you every month so that you don't need to even think about where or what I'm going to teach this month.

We have a plan that's emailed to you each month.

And then you also have access to our online resource library that has hundreds of ready to use printables and activities that you can just download either to your tablet or your digital device, or you can print and use in your home.

So we have that membership as well.

But like I said, all of our educational music and resources are right online.

Oh, wow.

So full of such great things that.

Yeah.

Thank you, parents.

Listen up.

This is something that you can go and put in place right away.

We always want to make sure our children are so they can be happy, healthy, and successful, but let's just make sure we're doing it also in a fun way, and it sounds like little.

Iguana in a memorable way so that they actually remember.

Awesome.

All right, well, as we're wrapping up, we want to say thank you again for joining us, for giving us all the wonderful help and everything and for being on the show.

And I love that you're working with your family, that you brought it together and you shared your traditions and you helped your dad.

And then it just became this thing to keep your family together.

So part of a lot of what you're learning and what we're trying to teach is about helping to keep families together throughout the longer period, because it's not just when they turn 18, they're gone.

You want them there for the rest of your life.

And it's amazing that you found a way to stay so close with your family.

So congratulations on that.

It's really fun.

And thank you for being here.

We do have our days, but for the most part, it's very fun.

Yes.

But with that good communication, you can get through those.

Absolutely.

You know, awesome.

All right, Erika and guests, thank you so much for being here today on bringing education home.

We are here for you to ask.

Ask questions, answer questions, giving you resources to help your families be happy, healthy, and successful from now and into the future.

Until next time.

Bye for now.

Bye for now.