By Kath Gannaway
It’s ‘pester-power’ but it’s for the greater good!
Get the kids on board, asking the hard questions around bushfire awareness and safety, and there’s a very good chance you are going to get the message across to the parents.
Hillcrest CFA Art Competition, now in its second year is proving to be a powerful tool in engaging both children, and their parents.
The brigade ran the 2017 competition at the schools in their brigade area, Woori Yallock, Launching Place and Don Valley, and recently presented the excited winners with their prizes and certificates.
Hillcrest Safety Officer, Fourth Lieutenant Andrew Smith said the competition acts as a conversation starter.
One of the categories was to produce a logo around animals and bushfire.
“If a kid comes home and says ‘Hey Mum, what are we going to do with our horse if there’s a bushfire?’ Mum might say ‘I don’t know … that’s a good question’,” Lt Smith said.
“Well, I’m doing this competition, and I have to come up with a logo … so it starts that conversation.”
Getting another group to draw a fire-fighter leads to the obvious question of what a fire-fighter wears, and why.
“It’s about the risks associated with fighting a fire and can lead to the broader conversation about whether a family can stay and defend their home.
“Ideally, we would like people to leave early, but if the kids are pushing the barrow that shorts, thongs and a singlet are not a great thing to be wearing, then that gets mum and dad involved.”
Lt Smith said there was interest in the competition from schools outside the Hillcrest area which opens up the opportunity to broaden the reach of what is proving to be a very effective community education tool.
And, he makes no apology for employing the ‘pester-power’ tactic usually associated with a high-profile fast-food outlet, saying: “We’re using it for good, not evil.”
