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smart choices blog

Let's Talk About Sending or Receiving Inappropriate Photos

5/1/2022

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I just finished working with one of my students using the Smart Choices Image Cards. I use them as a jumping off place that creates space to talk about hard things.

I’m a tutor in Minnesota and like to incorporate Smart Choices in my writing exercises with my students. I give them time to look at the card, formulate what is happening in the picture on the card and then ask them open ending questions about what the card means to them.

I use the Five W approach with my questions….Who, What, Where, When and Why to explore the possibilities of each scenario on the card. Then I ask them to write paragraph describing their response to the card.

Today my 7th grade student shared about how hard it is on social media at his school. “we see things that just aren’t meant to be seen”, he told me today as we talked about sending or receiving inappropriate photos on our phones.
  • We talked about acknowledging healthy boundaries before even engaging on social media apps.
  • We both wondered out loud what we would do if certain things came our way on our phones. What would we do and at what point do we get a trusted adult involved or even the authorities.
  • We talked about the compounding effect of sending one photo to a friend, and so on, and so on, and so on….and what we could be responsible for when sending inappropriate texts.

​Thank you to Smart Choices for giving my students exposure to real-life scenarios that prepare them, just enough, that when the time comes, they may think, “Hey, I’ve seen this before and already know what I am going to do!” 

Steph Schrope 
Minnesota Tutor 
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If you don't teach them, I can promise you...the world will.

3/16/2022

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Attention parents, grandparents, or anyone who has a relationship with a child, I ask you to look at this post and really “think” about what I’m expressing to you.

There was a shooting last week that was only 3 doors down from our home, mid-morning, in our well established neighborhood.  Thankfully, my teen-aged son has been well versed in “what if’s.” But after that day's event it brought some additional serious questions FROM HIM and which provoked serious answers FROM US, his parents.

#1. What do I do if I see a stranger in our house?
#2. What do I do with our dog?
#3. Many more questions.....


First, my husband and I discussed, and decided, on a "game plan" for this specific incident. Second, we talked with our son. Now we have a family game plan. I highly suggest YOU have a game plan for your family.

How can you get started? SMART CHOICES!

How does Smart Choices work? You pick the cards that you want to use as a "conversation starter". When you  seriously just listen to what your child tells you, then the deep and honest conversations will follow.


I still use Smart Choices, was honored to be apart of a review many months ago, and I am happy to write this short BLOG for you now. We don’t want to make our children afraid to leave the house, we just need to teach them how to be more AWARE and how to "read" a situation. If you don't teach them, I can promise you...the world will.

Bobbi Duck

PS. I liked these images so I chose these pictures from my previous Smart Choices BLOG.

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Smart Choices goes to Vegas!

1/27/2022

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I am so excited to announce that Smart Choices was in USCCA's magazine called Concealed Carry. We made it into their BIG January 2022 edition called THE PREDATOR PROJECT that launched in VEGAS at SHOT SHOW this year! 

SHOT SHOW is the largest trade show of its kind. The Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade ShowSM (SHOT Show®) is the largest and most comprehensive trade show for all professionals involved with the shooting sports, hunting and law enforcement industries. It is the world’s premier exposition of combined firearms, ammunition, law enforcement, cutlery, outdoor apparel, optics and related products and services. The SHOT Show attracts buyers from all 50 states and more than 100 countries. SHOT Show is the only event for retailers, wholesalers and distributors that brings the industry’s most innovative technology, products, manufacturers, education and regulatory leadership together to create one comprehensive and fully loaded experience. You’ll find the people, the passion and the answers you need to stay successful, competitive and knowledgeable. The SHOT Show is restricted to members of the shooting, hunting, military and outdoor trade industry including commercial buyers and sellers of military, law enforcement and tactical products. It is a trade show not open to the general public. 

The USCCA helps responsible Americans prepare for what happens before, during and after an act of lawful self-defense. In addition to offering education and training, the USCCA has purchased an insurance policy that provides the association and its members with self-defense liability insurance. Whether you’re looking for concealed carry training, facts about firearms, gun laws, shooting ranges or self-defense information, the USCCA has compiled everything you need to know to legally and effectively protect the ones you love. Browse the selections in their website to access their most popular and comprehensive concealed carry resources to help you become a safe, knowledgeable and confident first line of defense.
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Smart Choices is a well thought out deck of 84 Image Cards that focuses on IMAGES that will help parents/teachers/educators teach children to recognize danger and to make smart choices ahead of time. Smart Choices will aid in having a plan for the whole family so you AND your child will know what to do when presented with some difficult decisions.

Smart Choices Image Cards was designed to focus on your child processing primarily in pictures rather than words, so ideas are interconnected, and your child can see the relationship between elements (verbal discussion plus visual learning) in the whole.

Here are just a few advantages of this style of IMAGE BASED  learning:
  • Pictures appeal to curious young minds
  • Respond to visual information FASTER
  • Most effective way to make sure your conversations get stored as a long-term memory
  • Communication between you and your child can be quicker and even deeper
  • Grasps concepts easily by stimulating imagination
  • Smart Choices Image Cards will help your child CONNECT your  previous conversations and our images with REAL LIFE situations. We are working as a team to set them up for success,  find the SMART CHOICE "file" that relates to the situation, act on it and get home safely.​
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​Smart Choices is not about dumping knowledge into your child’s brain; it is about carrying on a conversation with them. WE SUPPLY THE IMAGE AND YOU SUPPLY THE SUBJECT MATTER, with plenty of "helpful hints" from us.

The powerful images on the front of these cards plus the "helpful hints" on the back provoke incredibly important two-way conversations with our children, our grandchildren, our students, and our small groups around potentially dangerous situations and how to maneuver around them.

Having already talked though the dangers that each card elicits puts our kids in a position of preparedness, where they can draw on knowledge from a past experience, or in this case, a past card conversation. They know what to do!

We recommend picking one age appropriate card to discuss with your child about every 2-4 weeks. That could breakdown to 48 - 84 months of deep and meaningful conversations.

Smart Choices Image Cards are meant to be revisited as your child grows so you can test what they remember and continue to instill your parenting lessons throughout the years. 

​Smart Choices supply 84 two-sided Image Cards:
  • Our 3.5"x5.75" Smart Choices Image Cards are made of high quality card stock, visually stimulating and the perfect size. Our cards are made to last so as your child grows, new Image Cards can introduced, no matter when you purchased them. Some parents LAMINATE their Smart Choices Image Cards so they "stand the test of time" can hold up to be revisited over and over again through the years.
  • The Image Cards break down to roughly $.83 - $1.18 per card and that does not include any other materials or the FREE shipping.
  • On the front will be an image that your child will see.
  • On the back will be a few "Helpful Hints" to help parents through their first discussions. These are just "hints" because the conversations with your children will most likely be through YOUR imagination, research and experiences.​
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​ANYONE can get involved!
  • Parents/Guardians/Family
  • Homeschooling
  • Clubs/Groups
  • Teachers/Educators/Tutors
  • Special needs teaching "Outside the box" for children and adults with learning disabilities
  • Counselors
  • Martial Arts Instructors/Coaches
  • You name it!

Parents/guardians know their children best and "how to speak their child's language". Each parent has their own rules and teaching style so we are focusing on setting you up for success to help your child learn while you supply the "meat and potatoes" for each image.

I don't know about you guys but it sounds like a match made in heaven. Thank you USCCA for including Smart Choices Image Cards and finding value in our learning system. 
Shelley Luehder Hill


*Some information was copied directly from UCSSA and SHOT SHOW's website
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Los Star Kids toman Decisiones Inteligentes! (Star Kids make Smart Choices!)

12/8/2021

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​I love the flexibility of Smart Choices. The concept works for a variety of topics and is universal. On previous mission trips to Peru, I have covered situational awareness for teens and adults.  On my October trip the folks with Make A Miracle ( https://www.makeamiracle.net/) wanted me to talk to younger kids in our Star Kids program. With the Smart Choices concept of using images, I was able to cover examples of dangers that kids everywhere share as well as some unique to their environment.

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​Despite a scheduling conflict that forced us outside and no way to project images we found printed pictures passed in front of them worked effectively and it was very gratifying when the kids started asking “what if” questions. Child abductions have been increasing in the area, so we spent extra time on dealing with strangers. When I showed one picture and discussed that bad people can often look nice one of the young boys asked, “can I hit them in the head with a big rock?.” I had to suppress a laugh and take the time to discuss the difference between can, may and should. It kept my translator busy as we worked to convey the concept, but we eventually got to where he understood that given the choice of running or trying to bash a much bigger person’s head in that avoidance would most often be the Smart Choice.
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​Most importantly the Smart Choices concept will continue as an ongoing part of our work with these children, and we have added another saying to use at the beginning of their weekly sessions:  Los Star Kids toman Decisiones Inteligentes! (Star Kids make Smart Choices!)

Steve Havey

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As a homeschooling mom, I love that Smart Choices is so flexible and customizable.

12/1/2021

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I have attended The Complete Combatant’s Image Based Decisional Drills (IBDD) class with Brian and Shelley Hill at their beautiful range in Dahlonega, GA.  It was fantastic and unlike any other self defense class I had ever taken before!  One by one, Shelley presented students with a single image card, then based on the scenario depicted on your card, you had 5 seconds to interpret the image and then act in response to that image. 
 
Sometimes the appropriate response was to apply a tourniquet and call 911.  Sometimes it was to draw your firearm and stop a threat.  Sometimes it was to simply flee the scene and run to safety.  Sometimes it was to pepper spray an aggressor or to attempt to verbally de-escalate a situation.  It was quite challenging and it revealed some shortcomings in a lot of students’ attitude, skills, and plan as self defenders. That was the best part about the entire class in my opinion – that even when a student didn’t respond to the scenario on their card in an ideal manner, the entire class talked through what actions might have been more appropriate instead and we all learned from each others’ mistakes. It was a phenomenal and unique learning experience for all!

I was so impressed with how eye-opening the class was that when I heard that Brian and Shelley were expanding on their IBDD class and developing a similar product geared for children, I was thrilled and knew that I wanted a set for my kids! That product is called Smart Choices.

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​Like the IBDD cards for adults, Smart Choices is an image based training tool for kids.  However, instead of the time constraints, cognitive load and pressure testing integrated into the IBDD class, the Smart Choices cards encourage critical thinking and problem solving in a very calm, controlled environment.  Smart Choices is intended to stimulate deep, thoughtful, age-appropriate conversations with kids. Each card is an opportunity to really connect with your kids about important issues and potentially dangerous situations they could find themselves in, and gives you a chance to be proactive in helping them know how to make smart choices when you aren’t around. You are supposed to take your time to discuss the image on each card in depth, and together you come up with wise safety practices for your whole family.  
 
Smart Choices comes with an in-depth instruction booklet and 84 different image cards.  Each image has been carefully selected, the images are professionally produced, and the cards are very high quality.  You can even laminate them to make sure they will really last. On the back of each card are several helpful hints to help kickstart the discussion if needed.  According to the Smart Choices website and booklet, the deck is designed for children ages 4-13, but even our adult son benefitted from it greatly!
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​As a homeschooling mom, I love that Smart Choices is so flexible and customizable, and I really appreciate how the cards allow parents/guardians to be in the driver’s seat to steer conversations.  You get to decide the pace, which cards to introduce to your kids and when, and how deep you want to take the discussion on a particular topic.

With our youngest, for example, we approach Smart Choices as a sort of game. We keep it short and fun so that she doesn’t lose interest.  With our older kids, though, we are able to take a much deeper dive into each topic. The conversations usually go off on multiple tangents and we often end up reviewing practical skills like verbal de-escalation, how to do CPR, how to properly apply a tourniquet, or the when/why/how of using pepper spray
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Smart Choices has helped us finetune and shore up holes we didn’t know we had in our family’s safety plan and practices.  Our children get to explore different scenarios in the safety and comfort of their own home with the supervision, support, and guidance of the two people on the planet who love them more than anyone else does!  It’s such an ingenious tool!  If you want an effective, economical, adaptive, and durable product to introduce your children to safety education, a resource that you can visit again and again as your children grow, Smart Choices is exactly what you’ve been looking for!

​Soleil Roache
Hawaii
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"I watched as the parent's faces shifted to show pleasure, and even concern, with their child's answers". CF

10/29/2021

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Life has been a whirlwind. It has been crazy and many of us have been moving fast trying to find our place to land. We all have been doing what we can to survive day to day, often just checking things off the list and feeling successful when we wake up and our world is not crashing down around us. For many of us that “making it” mentality means we are putting aside important things, that at the time seem like they can wait.
 
In the firearms industry we work hard and do a really good job of sharing our message our impact, better human functionality, faster to the bang and the best gear. I love to shoot, I love helping people learn to be successful in the task of shooting, you know the reward of hitting the mark, but it has never fully satisfied me. I have always been one to encourage positive mindset and confidence and have connected that with my firearms instruction through the Situational Awareness message. Recently, I was able to fit into my busy schedule a weekend with Shelley and Brian Hill at The Complete Combatant and take their IBDD (Image Based Decisional Drills) Coaching Course. Every good Coach or Instructor has the innate ability to read into their students. By the second day of the course, I was all in and my energy was so high that I remember Brian looking at me and saying “Relax, Take a Breath”. This course changed everything about my plan and process as an adult for adults…and then Shelley showed me the Smart Choices Image Cards for Children.
 
Smart Choices Image Cards are created for children 4-13, but do not let this fool you. I recently worked with a family and everyone, young and old gained from the cards. On one side there is an image, on the other Helpful Hints to help guide the Coach or Parent on how to engage with the child on the subject. It is up the parents interpretation as to what the best answer, choice and reaction is for their family.

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Let me share a little about my adventures with the Smith* family. We planned to meet up so that I could practice working with the cards and children, and that the parents could see and hear their children’s responses, but also to show them as parents how the Smart Choice cards are a great tool for the whole family. They have three boys 4,9 and 15. I choose 6 cards that I felt were important topics, including my favorite…. The telephone Image Card. Other cards we focused on included a firearm card, pill bottle card, swimming pool card, fireworks card, and the driver “drinking” card. With every answer and conversation, I was empowered. Just like in some other families, you could see that they had previously discussed some part of of these subjects. but there were pieces and subjects missing. I watched as the parents faces shifted to show pleasure, concern and sometimes pain in their children’s answers.
 
After we finished, I spent a little time with the parents. The first words out of their mouths were “We have some work to do”. They immediately recognized that over time and with additional children they had stopped having some of the “important” conversations. They could also see the areas and subjects they needed to revisit with the assistance of the Smart Choices Image Cards Helpful Hints on the back as a guide. We have since had discussed creating learning time with parent/teacher coach/guides for their homeschool group.
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​My outlook on how and what I teach has been impacted by IBDD and Smart Choice. I encourage you to investigate and invest, not only for your students, but for yourself and your family. We can train on all the tools around us, but if we don’t train the one tool that was given to us to help make the ONE BEST FIRST CHOICE, then we are truly failing ourselves and those around us.
 
Just as I stated in the beginning life is a whirlwind, lets don’t let our compliancy in guiding and coaching the next generations come back to haunt us. Its up to all of us to help them learn how to make the ONE BEST FIRST CHOICE.

​Christa Forrester
Mom, Wife, Instructor, Guide and Student

 
*Name changed for anonymity and images approved by parents. 
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The Importance of our Statistics Page with Founder Shelley Hill

9/29/2021

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Statistics: It is not the odds, but the stakes

The statistical problems in real life consist of sampling, inferential statistics, probability, estimating, enabling a team to develop effective projects in a problem-solving frame. For instance, car manufacturers looking to paint the cars might include a wide range of people that include supervisors, painters, paint representatives, or the same professionals to collect the data, which is necessary for the whole process and make it successful. What are uses of statistics?

Statistics is used in every aspect of life, such as in data science, robotics, business, sports, weather forecasting, and much more. There are various other fields where statistics concepts are applied like running, calculating the budget, calories count, and much more. Additionally, statistics help in learning mathematical concepts better. This is how statistics can be used in each aspect of real life. What is the use of statistics in real life? Statistics is used for graphical representation of the collected data.

Statistics can compare information through median, mean, and mode. Therefore, statistics concepts can easily be applied to real life, such as for calculating the time to get ready for office, how much money is required to visit work in a month, in education, and much more. Besides this, statistics can be utilized for managing daily routines so that you can work efficiently.


What are our plans with the Statistics page? This page will focus on 1 Smart Choice Image Card (scenario/subject) per BLOG and will eventually be listed in CATEGORIES so you can find your subject with ease. The data collected on each subject will be geared towards children ages 13 and under. These are not opinions, we will not offer guidance on any subjects and the Statistics page will not be full of "fluff". This page is intended to supply basic national/regional/local stats on some of the Smart Choices Image Cards that have been chosen as one of the 84 important discussions between you and your child. Please research this subject extensively. Stats are subject to change on a daily basis. Remember, it is not the odds, but the stakes.

https://www.smartchoicesimagecards.com/statistics
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https://www.smartchoicesimagecards.com/
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Choosing the first card was the hardest part for me.

8/29/2021

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A picture is worth a thousand words. We hear it all the time. Images are so powerful and our reactions to images are so much stronger and more realistic than our reactions to mere words. As a firearms instructor, images are what lured me to Dahlonega, Georgia in late July. I jumped on the opportunity to take an instructor class called Image Based Decisional Drills taught by Shelley & Brian Hill of The Complete Combatant, LLC.

During a break on the first day of this incredible class, I was discovering the kid’s version, called Smart Choices. As I was skimming through the 84 image cards, my mind was racing with ideas. So many of us are visual learners but in my homeschooling household, multisensory learning is especially important. All three of my grandchildren have different learning abilities and struggles. This was going to be a game changer and I knew it the minute I had Smart Choices in my hands. I couldn’t wait to drive the 6 hours home and dive into my Smart Choices kit to get started.

I’ll admit it. I was very tempted to bypass the adorable purple Arlo The Ant covered stickers, magnet and “Setting You Up For Success” booklet to pull out the 84 image cards and pick the first one for my oldest grandchild to get started. I had to reel in my enthusiasm and make myself slow down to read through the booklet. I’m so glad I did because it really is a guide on the best ways to use this incredibly effective tool.

Choosing the first card was the hardest part for me. Since my oldest grandson is 11, severely dyslexic and has auditory processing disorder, he doesn’t learn as easily unless he gets a multisensory approach to whatever skill we’re asking him to learn. I chose a card with a vibrant palate of colorful vegetables laying on a cutting board with a rather large knife between two halves of an orange bell pepper. Once the card was chosen, I called my grandson into the room and the rest was just magical.

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​I showed him the image and used the helpful hints on the back of image card to have a lengthy discussion with a great back and forth conversation that flowed so naturally… all from this image! We talked about safety when working with knives in the kitchen, which knives he was allowed to use when we aren’t with him, what to do in case of an accident, where the Band-Aids were located, when it might be more than a Band-Aid type wound, and so much more. He asked questions. I asked questions. The beauty of this image didn’t stop there. We continued talking while I allowed my grandson to cut the vegetables up for our dinner, showing him the correct way to hold the knife and how not to accidently cut the hand holding the bell peppers. The verbal exchange continued as we made dinner together and sat down at the table to enjoy the meal we had created.

There are images for every age range and a variety of discussions can take place for each of those images based on the needs of your family and your experiences. The possibilities are limitless. I can easily see how these images could be used years apart for the same child and cause different learning experiences each time. The helpful hints on the back of each image help the adults steer the conversation or offer insights into topics we might not think of when we look at that image with our adult eyes.
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On the front of the Smart Choices “Setting You Up For Success” booklet
, it states the definition of success as “prepare your child by developing critical thinking & problem solving to help them make smart choices when you are not there”. With each image we share with the kids in our lives, we take a step in the right direction by opening the lines of communication on subjects that can be difficult to discuss without the aid of powerful images to get that ball rolling. 

Dawn Dolpp
Home Schooling/Special Education
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I have great, and sometimes ridiculous, discussions that build a solid relationship with my son.

7/25/2021

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I do a fair amount of training to acquire the skills and knowledge to protect my family. Keeping my family safe and healthy is my primary responsibility as a husband and a father. Whether that training is firearms, martial arts, medical, financial or preparedness related, I am always looking for a fun and effective way to learn new skills and increase my knowledge and effectiveness.

I met Brian and Shelley Hill from The Complete Combatant separately in classes I had enrolled in. While their personalities and enthusiasm are the first things that impress you, their philosophy and unique approach to training is what makes them both leaders in their field. The Image Based Decision Drills program is a great contextual and wholistic approach to self-defense training. It’s such a brilliant method. When I found out Shelly was developing the Smart Choices system for helping our children learn about the dangers and difficult decisions around them, I could not wait to see the result. I am also very impressed and inspired by this project. Shelley worked very hard to launch this product and it shows. It is a great reminder for all of us that anyone can develop a good idea into a successful product that can really help people. It just takes tenacity, drive and compassion for your customers.  

​I initially bought a copy of Smart Choices just to support a friend who I admire. It’s a great idea that I believe in, but since my son is only 4, I thought he wouldn’t get much out of it. I anticipated that it would sit on the shelf for a year or two until he was more mature and able to understand some of the cards. I was wrong. I think I often underestimate what my child can learn, and it really showed when we started going through the cards. My son is very curious, and he wants to ask questions and learn about things that he does not understand.

There were a couple things that continually surprise me when we spend time working with the Smart Choices system.
  1. The first is that sometimes he does not associate the picture with the topic written on the back of the card, but he very often brings up another topic that we can discuss and learn about. Whether we are discussing the card topic or something else, the casual and conversational nature of Smart Choices lets us branch off and introduce follow-up scenarios.  
  2. The second, and my absolute favorite part about Smart Choices, is how it unleashes the incredibly random, comical, and adorable thoughts that germinate inside the mind of a young child. The conversations that emanate from something like a picture of car keys is one that would not have had if we were not spending time together with this wonderful tool. Along with helping me come up with topics that allow me to impart wisdom and decision-making skills with my boy, it lets me have great and sometimes ridiculous discussions that build a solid relationship with my son.

For anyone else with very active children, I would like to share a couple great ways I have found to use this system. Like every other modern parent, I’m guilty of letting my boy zone out with the iPad just to gain a few minutes of silence and bring some peace and calm into my day. Anyone who says they are above that kind of behavior is a liar! I feel guilty about this though, so I do try to limit the screen time. I find that a great place to substitute Smart Choices for the iPad is in the car. It stimulates great conversations with him and when we play as a family it allows my wife to bring up points from a female perspective and from someone who was raised in a large metropolitan environment. I get to drop a little country boy perspective and my boy gets a ton of insight on every situation.

Sometimes just sitting at a table can be a challenge when you are four years old. One way we have found to keep his attention and engagement is to hide a few cards around the house and then have an Easter egg hunt for them. Once we find a card, we talk about it in that location. Changing locations every few minutes and adding some activity adds a new dynamic.

One final benefit that I really appreciate is, as we are gong through the cards it helps me evaluate my environment, plans, and supplies, and systems to keep my family safe and healthy. The conversations we have help me think of things I need to do, that I probably would not have come up with on my own.

​I am incredibly happy and impressed with this entire project. I am a very satisfied end user and as an entrepreneur and business owner I am incredibly impressed and a little jealous that I did not develop this myself. For the small price paid, this is going to pay dividends that I cannot even calculate. Hopefully along with many other factors, these cards can help me with my responsibility of raising a safe, smart, and compassionate young man. A man protecting his family rarely ever involves guns, knives, trauma kits, or chokeholds. We spend a lot of time and money training for something that hopefully will never happen. The real way we protect our children and spouses is by having discussions about the difficult decisions we face every day and give our children opportunities to practice making Smart Choices in a controlled environment with us before they need to make them alone in the real world.

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Chris Weinrebe lives in Phoenix Arizona with his wife Melissa and son Nathan. He is an airline pilot and entrepreneur. He is the Director of Operations at Force Projection LLC, a company that uses dry-fire shooting simulators for mobile training, entertainment, and education. ​
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Now, our "safe word" can be used in a text message.

6/28/2021

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We have been using Smart Choices for about 6-8 months now. I love having a resource that helps with communication prompts between my tween son and I. We start with all cards in its burlap sack. And my son pulls cards out one by one. We do this by hanging out on my bed. This is absolutely a “nonjudgmental time.” It’s simply a time that we can both communicate using Arlo to guide us into creating a safer ending in these different situations.

The first time my son pulled out the tourniquet card, he asked “What’s this?” I went and got our house first aid kit and pulled out our tourniquet. And proceeded to show him, how to use a tourniquet and more importantly why. Every time we cycle thru our cards, I am always listening to how much information he has retained from previous times. BTW, he is almost ready to take a basic first aid course.

As a mom, I/we always talk to our children about “Stranger Danger.” But do you talk about finding a stranger “unconscious?” On the back of Smart Choices Card’s, Arlo has helpful hints to help guide you and your child to discuss various bulleted points for this situation. Would your child feel comfortable shaking the foot of an unconscious stranger? Would you feel comfortable with having your child shaking the foot of an unconscious stranger? As a mom, I would like my child to be safe. And I want him to still take care of a someone in need of help, but from a safe distance. To do this, you have got to have a plan. And Smart Choices give you the opportunity to create a plan.

The other night we were trying to pick our top 4 cards. My son picked out the “Peer Pressure” card.  And I picked the “Safe Word.” As we were discussing a situation that happened over at his friend’s house. I could tell by my son’s body language and his tone; he was not entirely comfortable relaying the conversation. I gently reminded him this was our nonjudgement zone and time. He relayed the conversation, and it really struck a chord with me.  So together we came up with a plan that helps him to have a “out.”  Up till now, in our house, our “safe word” has been used as a spoken term. Now, our safe word can be used in a text message. And If I receive our safe word in a text message, that means my son needs me to pick him up asap. And we wait until we are home, to discuss the situation.

In closing, I am extremely happy that I purchased Smart Choices for my family. They give us an opportunity to communicate and grow our family safety plan. And to create a new family safety plans as we grow. “Thank You to Shelley Hill,” for creating these! They give us a reality check of what our children may or may not encounter in today’s world. And some of these cards are straight up fun to talk about! Thank you so much Shelley and Arlo! We are very excited to see the expansion packs! 

​Bobbi Duck
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    Shelley Hill

    Shelley is the creator of Smart Choices, a public speaker, and a supporter of THINKING AHEAD. Smart Choices BLOG is a mixture of stories, Q & A interaction, new thought provoking ideas, guest BLOGS/videos, and MORE! 

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