From the Training:
Certified Safe & Loved Practitioner

In 1986, I made my first trip to the Mojave Desert as a Marine.
It was stinking hot.

Shortly after we arrived, a Navy captain who was also a medical doctor climbed on top of several empty ammunition crates to give us a safety briefing. He held up a green plastic canteen high in the air, a broad smile on his face. 

When you wake up, drink water.
When you brush your teeth, drink water.
When you go to the bathroom, drink water.
When you’re standing still, drink water.
When you’re walking, drink water. 

At some point, I started counting how many times he said drink water. 

Forty-seven. 

That does not include the times he said it before I started counting. 

In no way was this briefing inspirational. It was not exciting. He did not tell us anything we did not already know. 

Believe me, Marines standing in the Mojave Desert understand that water is important. But here I am, 40 years later, still remembering that briefing. 

What’s the moral of the story? 

People need reminders.
Not because they are careless or incapable, but because they are human. 

Teachers are busy teaching, solving problems, answering questions, and taking care of people. Even important messages can get buried under what must be handled right now. 

If safety matters, we have to keep talking about it. We have to connect it to the moments when people need it and we have to repeat it. 

When students arrive, smile and engage with them.
When something feels off, report it.
When behavior changes, ask why.
When a door is opened, secure it again. 

Training tells people what matters.
Repetition proves that it still matters. 

Leaders sometimes stop repeating themselves because they are worried they’ve said it too much. But the people we love and lead have not necessarily heard it, understood it, remembered it, and acted on it as often as we think. 

Samuel Johnson said, “People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed.” 

That is especially true in schools.

Teachers and staff do not need to be convinced that safety is important. They already know that. Just like me standing in a desert and knowing that water is important. 

But knowing is not the same as being reminded of its importance. 

This is why one safety training at the beginning of the year is not enough. It may be good training, but we sometimes give people an entire year’s supply of information in one sitting and expect them to remember it when they need it months later. 

We must teach it but also repeat it. 

Repetition is not an insult to someone’s intelligence.
It is an acknowledgment that we are human. 

That captain repeating the same thing over and over again did not make me angry. He made drinking water impossible to forget. 

So what about you? 

What is so important to you that you are willing to stand on a box and repeat it 47 times to those you love and lead? 

Make a list of the top five and then go out and say it 47 times.