Read words on a package label

What it looks like when your child can do it

• — When you hold up a closed spray bottle, your child asks you to turn it around and looks for the block of small print on the back.
• — Your child finds the bold word near the top of the warnings, like CAUTION, WARNING or DANGER, and reads it out.
• — Your child can point to the line that says what to do if the product gets in someone's eyes.

How to teach it at the kitchen table

1. 01

   The front sells, the back tells

   Hold up a bottle from under the sink with the cap on and let your child look at the front. Then turn it around. The big name and bright colors are on the front, and the facts are in the small print on the back.

2. 02

   Hunt for the signal word

   Many cleaning labels have one bold word near the top of the warnings. CAUTION is the mildest, WARNING is stronger, and DANGER is the strongest. A label with no signal word is not telling you the product is safe, so read the rest and ask a grown-up.

3. 03

   Find the never line and the first aid

   Look for lines like Keep out of reach of children, Do not mix with bleach, or If in eyes, rinse with water. Read them out loud together before anything goes wrong. Many labels also say to call poison control, which is 1-800-222-1222 in the United States, and that number belongs by your phone.

4. 04

   Reading never means opening

   Make it a house rule that a grown-up holds the bottle, cap on, while your child reads. Your child never picks up, opens or smells a cleaner to read it. Medicine labels are read together, and medicine is only ever given by a grown-up.

You will need: Two or three closed cleaning bottles from your home, held by you · A cereal box or other food box · A closed medicine box, held and put away by a grown-up

Try it together

1. Try 1

   Take two closed cleaning bottles from under the sink. Hold each one up and turn it so your child can see the back. Ask your child to find the signal word on each one.

   Listen for  One bold word per bottle, like CAUTION or WARNING, found on the back, not the front. If a bottle has none, your child should say so rather than calling it safe.

2. Try 2

   Read this out loud: Keep out of reach of children. Use only with a window open. If on skin, wash with soap and water. Ask which line tells you what to do after something goes wrong.

   Listen for  If on skin, wash with soap and water. That is the first aid line. The other two are about keeping trouble from starting.

3. Try 3

   Hold up a closed box of medicine from your cabinet, turned so your child can read the directions. Ask who the directions say it is for.

   Listen for  Your child finds the directions and reads the ages listed, like adults and children 12 years and over. Talk about why the amount changes with age, then put the box away. Only a grown-up ever opens it.

4. Try 4

   Hand your child a cereal box or another food box and ask them to find the ingredients list and read the first ingredient.

   Listen for  The first word after Ingredients. The list runs from the most to the least, so the first one is what the box holds the most of. Food boxes are the safe place to practice hunting through small print.

Watch for

• — Treating a label with no signal word as safe. A missing word means the label is not telling you, so a grown-up decides.
• — A bottle with a worn or missing label. Nobody opens it or sniffs it to find out what it is. It goes to a grown-up.

If it is not there yet

• — Start with food boxes, which are safe to handle. Find the ingredients list and the directions together before moving on to cleaning labels.
• — Read one real label a week out loud together, with the cap on and the bottle in your hands, and ask your child to find one warning line each time.

A few days of this is normal, and it is time well spent. The lesson will still be there, and it will go faster.

Where this skill comes up

• How Scientists Actually Find Out · Lesson 10

  What Never Goes Together

  Needs it because your child reads three real bottle labels on the sheet and pulls the warning out of each.