Ready Kids › Getting Around Without a Car › Badge 4 › Lesson 4.3
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Getting home from somewhere that stopped being fine
Have an exit plan agreed before you go out, and a text that brings a lift with no questions asked.
1Watch
The party that changed
The party that changed
A kid at a friend's house. A few older kids have arrived, the music has gone up, and something is happening in the corner that the kid did not sign up for. The kid is on the sofa, phone in hand, thumb over the screen. Freeze.
22 secondsNothing bad has happened. The Feeling Dial has moved off Fine. That is enough.
2The idea
Twitchy is the signal
You will not always be able to say why somewhere stopped being fine. You will know it did. The Feeling Dial moving from Fine to Twitchy is enough reason to leave. You do not owe anyone an explanation, and you do not have to be sure. Being sure is what you get afterwards.
The exit is agreed before you go, when there is nothing to leave. Nobody makes a good plan on a sofa with the music up. You make it in the kitchen, and then it is already made.
3The steps
The plan, in three parts
The text: a word or two you and a parent agree on. Anything. It means come and get me.
The promise: they come, as fast as they can, and ask nothing tonight. Tomorrow you can talk, or not.
The wait: by the front door, or with an adult you know, not in the room you wanted out of.
And the sentence for the room: “My mum is picking me up.” That is the whole explanation. If someone keeps pushing, Say it once more, then Leave. Those are the first two of the Four Moves for a reason.
4Worked example
9.14pm, the sofa
Dan sends the two words. The reply comes in under a minute: On my way. 15 min. He tells his friend his mum is picking him up. His friend says he is being weird. Dan says maybe, and goes to wait by the front door with his coat on. The car comes. He gets in.
His dad says hi, and asks what he wants to listen to. Nothing else. The next morning Dan mentions the older kids, or he does not. Either is fine. The plan worked because both halves of it were kept.
5Look
The text
The text
A phone screen with a two-word message ready to send to a parent, and a reply underneath that says on my way, fifteen minutes.
The words do not matter. What matters is that both of you know what they mean and what the reply will be.
6Decide
You want to leave. Your friend says everyone will notice.
Pick one to carry on.
7Say it
The only explanation you owe the room
Say the sentence you will actually use
“My mum is picking me up in ten minutes.”
That is the whole explanation. Anyone who pushes past it has told you something about themselves.
8Find them
Which of these are good enough reasons to send the text?
Tap the ones that count.
Find all 4.
9Your turn
Three situations, one exit each
Three situations, one exit each
Three scenes: a sleepover where the adults have gone out; a park where the group has moved somewhere you do not know; a house where drinks have appeared. For each, drag one exit into place: the text, the walk to the agreed safe place, the call to the second number.
The exit is the same shape every time. Get in touch, get somewhere with a known adult, wait.
10Do it
Before you leave this page
Tonight, with a parent, agree the exact text and save it as a message on your phone. Then get them to say out loud what they will do when it arrives, and what they will not ask. Both of you have to say it.
Tick it when you have done it.
Lesson done.
Agree the way out before you go. One text means come get me. No questions tonight, and you will never be in trouble for sending it.
Take the Badge ChallengeBadge 4 · Getting There and Back
4.1Transit on your own4.2Being dropped off and picked up4.3Getting home from somewhere that stopped being fine★Badge Challenge