Halloween is just a week away and it’s time not just to plan costumes and decoration but also to prep your teens and kids for a safe and fun night. Drivers not seeing trick-or-treaters is the number one halloween safety concern that should be on every adult’s mind this week. It is not too late to order funflector reflectors, ultra-bright Halloween reflectors that are fun and stylish. The Ninja and Ninja star safety reflectors are sailing up as our best sellers this year! From now to Halloween, we’ll promise to get any orders out our door within 24 hours.
Back to school safety reflectors for backpacks and book bags
School supplies piled high, schedules checked and papers signed. Getting kids back to school can be daunting, and it is easy to forget all the soft things that are not on the provided supply lists, for example talking with your kids how to handle difficult and dangerous situations or what to do if they see bullying or are the target of it. Strategies and safety tips for how to deal with bullies, strangers and traffic dangers is something every kid should be taught.
1. Tools for Kids to Deal With Bullying
Bullying hurts, emotionally and/or physically, and as if that wasn’t bad enough, it also prevents learning and developing new skills. Take the time to talk with your kids about bullying, how to stand up for others and how they can protect themselves. It’s not always so easy to bring up the topic of bullying with the kids, we found some good tips here on how to talk about bullying. Go here to get strategies for your kids to deal with and prevent bullying. Give them the confidence to stand up for themselves but also to help others who might be the target of bullying.
2. Teach Kids More Than “Stranger Danger”
“Stranger Danger” is easy to tell kids, but it does not give them any tools to deal with creepy, scary and dangerous situations. When doing nothing is not enough, kids need to know what action to take. We like the site ChildSafetyFun.com as it gives kids and parents tools to assess strangers, most of whom are thankfully good people, and take immediate action when they are not. It teaches kids how they can verbally and physically protect themselves and encourages you to practice different situations with your kids.
3. Practice Road Safety With Your Kids
Whether your kids walk or bike to school, or wait for the school bus at the side of the road, they need to understand to take traffic seriously. That goes for teens in middle and high school too! We have mentioned it many times before on this blog, but here is a quick reminder:
Cross streets on crosswalks and at intersections. Most pedestrian crashes (70%) occur in the middle of the block.
Walk on the left side if there is no sidewalk. That way you know what’s going on with the traffic closest to you, and you will have more time to step away if needed.
Wear reflectors from dusk to dawn when walking, biking or running. Cars have rear lights to be seen and it is equally important for anyone not in a car to make themselves seen by drivers. Of all fatal teen pedestrian accidents, 75% happen when it’s dark. Make sure your kids don’t end up as a tally mark in the 2016 crash statistics.
The best way to teach kids how to behave is to practice what you preach. Be a good role model and park the car a block away next time, and use that to practice crossing streets. Especially, teach the kids to watch out for drivers turning “right on red” because those drivers are often only looking to the left… Wear reflectors yourself (you don’t want to become a tally mark either, right?) from dusk to dawn. For those adults who don’t think ninja or kitten safety reflectors are the right style for you, we have some more “neutral” ones too 🙂 The funflector team P.S. And to all parents out there who need to take a deep breath now when kids are back in school: This safety reflector is for you, enjoy!
Last week, we posted about how prismatic safety reflectors work and some fun science projects to better understand retroreflectors. The posts were inspired by an order we recently shipped to a Seattle school for a reflector safety project.
Yesterday, I received this awesome story:
“Elisabeth,
The reflectors were a big hit. A parent and I did a safety talk and demonstration with a flash camera. I was in the school the next day and I heard a kid whispering “that’s the reflector lady”, so it must have made an impact.
At the assembly, we turned off the stage lights and I wore all black and walked across the stage, and then I turned and walked back the other way, but I had the star reflectors pinned on that half of the coat. Then the parent took a series of flash pictures to illuminate me in the dark. It was a quick and fun demonstration. We then delivered reflectors to each classroom.
Tomorrow at “Science Friday” the kids will be looking at reflectivity and retroreflectivity. Thanks for some of your science ideas.
Thanks for the fast turn around of my order.” Monica Sweet, Seattle Safe Routes to School project Safety Reflector demo by Monica at a Seattle School
Thanks, Monica, for the story and photo and for letting us share it with our readers! Elisabeth
Today we honor those who sacrificed their lives to keep the world open and free. Peace and freedom is a never ending project that requires commitment on all levels and, unfortunately, sometimes unavoidable wars.
As a kid, I loved Astrid Lindgren’s books. Not so much Pippi Longstocking and her early series, but her grand fairy tales “The Brothers Lionheart“, “Mio, My Son” and “Ronja the Robber’s Daughter“. They are set in times of snow white messenger pigeons, black tyrants with evil dragons and plundering robbers who could have been Robin Hood’s distant cousins. Although set in a fairy tale time and landscape, they are universal and time-less, covering all human traits like good and evil, brave and cowardly, humorous and serious and love and hate. The kids in them experience horrible things but learn to overcome their fears to do what is necessary to save the world from evil and eternal darkness. “Then Jonathan said there were things you have to do, even if they are dangerous. ‘Otherwise you aren’t a human being, but just a bit if filth.’ ” – from “The Brothers Lionheart”
Ronja, The Robber’s Daughter by Astrid Lindgren
Mio, My Son by Astrid Lindgren
The Brothers Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren
Seeing on the news what is going on in the Middle East today makes these books more important than ever. When I read them as a kid, and again just a couple of years ago for my own kids, I could not imagine that I would see scenes from the books on the news. But that is where the world is today and we are more dependent than ever on having brave men and women defend the freedom we want to keep enjoying.
If you haven’t read these books already, now is the time!
Before the summer is over, we want to share some more fun from Tivoli Gardens, the century-old amusement park in central Copenhagen, Denmark. We’ve already talked about the rides and interesting architecture. Something else that was different from any American park we’e been to was the work on sustainability.
Sustainability
Tivoli is located in the heart of Copenhagen, across the street from the main train station (Hovedbangard) and with a plethora of bus stops and bike racks surrounding it. Copenhagen is after all one of the most bike friendly cities in the world, and local Tivoli visitors take advantage of it. We had a smooth quiet commuter train ride from southern Sweden, over the bridge, passed the Copenhagen airport before arriving in central Copenhagen. It’s a totally different experience than riding the diesel train from the suburbs to Chicago. (At the airport, the train stops right under the check-in area!) Tivoli reusable coffee/soda/beer mug with a 5 DKR deposit.
When ordering a coffee, I was first a bit shocked to have to pay five Danish crowns (almost one US dollar) for the cup. However, it turned out that I got the money back when I returned the mug to a refund machine. They used the same cups for hot and cold drinks, including beer, saving on litter and waste. The refund system also turned out to be a great source of income for the kids while they were waiting for the concert to begin. After a couple of beers, many on the concert lawn gladly let the kids collect the mugs. Ben and Jerry’s Ice cream at Tivoli 🙂
Good Food
Our teen and her friend waiting for fish and chips. It turned out to be well worth the wait.
While enjoying some wild rides at American amusement parks this year, even my kids wanted to go back to Tivoli Gardens for food and snacks (and for rides of course). Tivoli has both decent fast food and restaurants on their premises. For the meal included in our “Puls Pakke” tickets, we picked Fish & Chips. That might not sound so special, but the Chips (French fries) were organic and freshly made and the fish was simply delicious! Soda came of course in the recyclable mugs…
We had to try some Danish “aebleskiver”, apple slices. The fact that they are round like doughnut holes and don’t have a hint of apple in them doesn’t seem to bother the Danes whatsoever ;). But they were very yummy! At the waffle bakery, we bought some Danish aebleskiver (apple slices). They had not a hints of apple and not very slice like either, but they were delicious!
Music
There is more music than the Champagne Gallop at Tivoli. Friday night rock concerts are included in the ticket price and we enjoyed the 30 Seconds to Mars concert that June night. The ten minute drizzle while waiting for the music to begin, was soon forgotten.
30 Seconds to Mars with lead singer Jared Leto at Tivoli Copenhagen in June 2013.
Thirty Seconds to Mars at Tivoli Copenhagen in June 2013.
Wow, what a day! The 15 minute wait for the train home at 1AM felt like an eternity for tired kids and mom, but we’ll be back some day! Thumbs up and big smiles! We had an amazing day at Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen.
The funflector team, roller coaster test division 😉
When you live abroad with kids, how do you keep your heritage and language alive? In addition to speaking Swedish at home, attending Swedish School and SWEA events, we play a mix of Swedish rock, pop, jazz and classical music and songs for kids in the car. A few days ago, a friend who is a wonderful singer asked me to suggest some CD’s with Swedish songs to sing with her grandkids (age 3 and below) and I thought there might be others out there who’d like to know.
När dagen tagit slut och när nattskjortan är på… – from the song “Kaprifol” (Honeysuckle) of “Majas alfabetssånger”
So here are our personal favorites:
Majas Alfabetssånger – CD and Book Wonderful lyrics with creative and varied music to 26 songs about plants, one for each letter of the Swedish alphabet (almost). A wonderful way not only to share the language and music with kids, but also the love for nature that is so much a part of Swedish culture.
The Mamma Mu songs by Jujja and Tomas Wieslander make great entertainment for little quirky minds. Sing along in the car or at home. Get the packages with CD and booklet with suggestions for motions (“rörelsehäfte”) to go with the songs. The motions make it even more fun but they also help kids connect the words to body parts, motions and everyday toddler activities. “Min lilla kråksång” has the song about ants and moose clapping that I mentioned in the moose blog post last week.
Alice Babs did not just sing with Ulrik Neumann, Svend Asmussen, Charlie Norman and Duke Ellington, but also lent her versatile voice to enchant generations of Swedish kids with a number of records/CD’s. If you’d like a good singer along with the kid’s music, this is better than you can dream of. The much loved Alice Tegnér songs are available in a traditional version from 1963 (Sjung med oss, Mamma) and with a more modern twist from 2003 (Sjung med oss Mamma, vol II). Our favorite, however, is the “Hej du måne”, a collections of songs that take advantage of the range of Alice Babs’ mesmerizing voice. Those songs can be found on the second half of “Den olydiga ballongen” CD.
Lennart Hellsings’ Krakel Spektakel has been around for a while, but the songs are are still going strong. His books and tongue twister lyrics are fun to share and a great source for intriguing discussions with preschool kids. Do you remember “Sudda, sudda” or “Min Ponny” by Gullan Bornemark? She just keeps coming up with lyrics and music that kids love, so there are many, many recordings to choose between. The CD “Klang i Bygget” has mostly newer songs, but also some of the older favorites. The Real Group singing “Hösten hälsar på” is of course a treat. There is also one about moose 🙂 The CD also has tracks with the band but no vocals for those who want to sing along on their own.
Several of the CD’s are available at Amazon.com, but most seem to be out of stock right now. So you might want to pick them up in Sweden during your next trip or ask friends or relatives to send or bring them.
Kerstin Andeby, who composed the music to “Majas alfabetssånger” is now working with Peter Wanngren to create “Musik för barn”, about eight CD’s from Naxos with the 100 most loved children’s songs. Listen to a radio interview here (in Swedish). The two first are about to be released. Something to look out for during future visits to Sweden!
Bike shaped safety reflectors, available also for wholesale and bulk orders.
Did you know that you can order in bulk and get quality reflectors significantly cheaper? You can even get reflectors with your logo or slogan! Contact us so we can tell you more! We have just shipped bike shaped reflectors to a school to be used as rewards at a bike derby. Lucky kids! We put some red and blue ones in our web shop as well, in case you just would like a few… In December, we posted about Vienna Elementary School, who bought reflectors as part of a walk-to-school program. They have “Walking Wednesdays” where some parents walk or bike with the kids to get to school safely. The kids are rewarded with tokens to hang on their backpacks and sometimes the token is a funflector® pedestrian reflector. Parents are rewarded with coffee, sponsored by a local coffee shop. Lucky parents! On March 14th, walking/biking kids were rewarded with Shamrock reflectors (Can they get more lucky?) and here is some amazing statistics for that day’s turnout: Half the students walked or biked to school (only 21% of the students are designated walkers). At least 38% of our bus riders walked to school. 340% more students walked or biked to school compared to an average day last school year. 59% more students walked or biked to school than on the best day of last year’s Walk/Bike Challenge Week. Here is a Patch video from last spring (before they had reflectors). What a great community! Congratulations and keep up the hard work! Elisabeth
Only one week to Halloween (where did October go?) and new Halloween decorations are popping up every day in the neighborhood. Are you planning for a safe Halloween? All over the country, funflector safety reflectors are popping up in people’s mail boxes. If you want some in your’s before Halloween, please order today, tomorrow or Wednesday before noon (central time)!
Funflector Halloween safety reflectors
To make it easier and quicker to order our most popular Halloween safety reflectors, we’ve bundled the Jack O’Lantern, the white ghost and the orange cat and give you $4 off compared to buying them separately! The glimling webshop has all the details.
Modern Mom awarded funflector with a “must-have” seal 🙂
Recently, we wrote about how to attach Halloween reflectors to costumes. If you don’t want to tape the reflectors to swords and light sabers, wands or broom sticks, you can put a (strong) rubber band around and then slip the chain through. From our friend and funflector fan Beth, we got a cute duck tape candy corn candy bag. Instead of putting reflective tape on the handle, she made a loop for her funflector and taped the loop to the outside of the bag! While in craft mode, you might want to check out this milk jug skeleton by the Party Animal. We are up to five jugs, so soon, we’ll get started on ours! How is yours coming along?
Duck Tape bag with Halloween safety reflectors
The DIY milk jug skeleton by Party Animal
Have fun and safe Halloween! – the funflector team
Don’t worry, photoshop helps us keep our models safely on the ground!
“Funflector® tags are so much more fun than reflective tape, but how do I attach them to Halloween costumes?“ is a question we often get this time of year. Four times as many kids get killed in traffic on Halloween than on any other night of the year! That’s why Good Morning America urged everyone to put reflectors on Halloween Costumes. The funflector® tags will do the trick! They are high quality pedestrian reflectors, fulfilling the European standard E13356, which means they can be visible to drivers from about 400 ft.
Fun-to-wear life saver: Ghost safety reflector from our webshop. Also available in white, pink & blue
Here is a recap of what we wrote last year about attaching reflectors to Halloween costumes: The ball chains that come with funflector® tags are meant to be attached to zipper pulls and loops. So what do you do when the robe of your grim reaper has none of that?
Safety reflector season has started and the days are zipping by. Most of all we notice it because of how much earlier it gets dark every day. Here in Chicago, we are losing one minute a day. One week I pick up kids after their activities and it is not so dark. The next week it is pitch black and I’m thinking of which Halloween safety reflectors to get them tis year. Have you too been surprised how fast it goes?
Are You Ready?
I got an email today “65 Days Until Black Friday! Are You Ready?” Bah, no, I’m not. funflector.com is ready, we are already shipping orders for stocking stuffers, but not me personally. The kids are still going to school in shorts and it is hard to find (real) fall leaves to use for photo props. So how can I be ready for what’s beyond Thanksgiving? We are busy with Halloween safety. Very busy! Last week, we came across some statistics that stated that four times as many kids are killed in traffic on Halloween as on any other night during the year. Four times—that’s a lot and we don’t want to stand on the sideline to see that happen any more.
Do your kids prefer reflective tape or Halloween reflectors?
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As a kid, I loved Astrid Lindgren’s books. Not so much Pippi Longstocking and her early series, but her grand fairy tales “
