SOS 4 Kids · People Safety · 15 August 2026

Two proposals, for your yes or no

Eight of your ten Day Two items are built and live. These are the other two. Neither exists anywhere in your 2017 course, so neither is your material — which means neither goes into the course until you say so. Here is what each one would be, so you can judge it rather than imagine it.

Item 4 · proposal

Secrets, surprises and privacy

You asked for “a novel and effective way to teach this.” Here is the idea in one line: a child cannot follow the rule “don’t keep unsafe secrets” until they can tell three things apart that all feel like keeping quiet.

What it isHow you can tell
A surpriseMom’s birthday cake hidden in the garageIt ends. Everybody finds out. Everybody is happy.
An unsafe secret“Let’s keep this between you and me”It never ends. One person must never find out. Your stomach feels wrong.
PrivacyGetting changed with the door shutIt is yours. You can always tell a trusted adult about it — it is not a secret at all.
Why this matters for your course specifically. Mr. Taylor never uses the word “secret” as a threat. He says “I don’t want you to get in trouble — let’s keep this between you and me.” It sounds like kindness. A child who only knows “don’t keep secrets” hears that as protection. A child who knows a secret with no end date is the tell hears it as the warning it is.

How it would be taught. Not by reading the table above. By sorting. The child drags each thing into one of three bins and finds out immediately whether they were right and why. Try it — this is working, not a mockup:

Working demo — tap a card, then tap a bin

Surprise

Everyone finds out. Everyone is happy.

Unsafe secret

Somebody must never find out.

Privacy

Yours. You can still tell an adult.

What I need: yes or no to building this as lesson 2.7 — and if yes, tell me anything in the three definitions above you want worded differently, because those words will be on screen in front of children.
Item 8 · your direction, written up

The man looking for his lost puppy

You asked: “Do a scenario with a man looking for his lost puppy. The man asks Brandon to go with him to go look for the puppy. Can Fernando write an appropriate and short dialogue for this trust meter activity?” Here it is. Read it and change any line you want changed — then it gets filmed.

A friendly man on a suburban pavement holding an empty dog leash, gesturing toward a park, while Brandon hesitates a few steps away
One thing worth knowing before you read it. Sergeant Mungar uses this exact example in your police film: “I could come up to a child and say, oh, I’ve lost my dog and I can’t find it. Would you please come with me to the park and help me find my little puppy?” So the scenario you asked for is already taught in your own course by a police officer — this scenario lets the child practise it. Watch that bit.

The dialogue. Brandon is walking home from school. A man he has never seen before is standing on the pavement holding an empty leash.

  • Man: “Hey — sorry to bother you. Have you seen a little brown puppy? He slipped his collar about ten minutes ago.”
  • Brandon: “No, sorry.”
  • Man: “He ran off toward the park. He’s only small — he’ll come to a kid before he’ll come to me. Would you come and help me look? Two minutes, honestly.”
  • Brandon: “I should ask my mom first.”
  • Man: “There’s no time, he’s heading for the road. Come on — you’d be doing me such a big favour.”

What Brandon is thinking — the four thoughts, in your existing format:

  • “A puppy might really be lost. I’d want someone to help me.”
  • “He’s got a leash, so he really has a dog.”
  • “He wants me to go with him, and he says there’s no time to ask.”
  • “A grown-up is asking a kid for help, and he doesn’t want me to check first. That’s two of the six rules at once.”

Do you trust this person? The answer is no — and not because of the puppy. Because of two of your own rules: rule 2, adults should ask other adults for help, not kids; and rule 1, check first with an adult in charge. The hurry is the tell. A real emergency still lets you make one phone call.

The guidance, in your existing words: “Listen to your trust meter. Ignore the stranger. Walk away. Yell if you feel threatened. Tell an adult you trust. If you can, get a description of the stranger.”

The one line I would add, and I want your view on it. Children who refuse feel guilty about the puppy. So after the right answer, Brandon says: “If the puppy is really lost, I can help — by telling my mom, and she can help him properly.” It gives the child somewhere to put the kindness instead of asking them to switch it off.
What I need: yes to the dialogue as written, or your changes to any line. And yes or no to that last line about telling mom instead.