Keep reading this article for the best practices to follow when you teach a child about stranger danger.
Start Young
One of the most important things you can do to teach your child about stranger danger is to start young. This is an essential part of child development and needs to be talked about as soon as your child can understand.
When your child starts school, it is important that they know how to recognize signs of stranger danger and realize that adults will never ask children for help.
Having this conversation as early as possible will ensure that your children are protected if they ever encounter a potentially dangerous situation.
Define Strangers
Next, it is essential that you define the word stranger for your children. Strangers are anyone who is unfamiliar, even if they seem friendly to your child.
It is also important to teach your child about people who are safe strangers. If your child is in a dangerous situation, they should know that there are people who can help them. For example, they can find a mom with children, a police officer, and more.
Your children should know who they can ask for help when they need it. It is also important that they know to always ask for help in a public place where they will be safer.
Finally, you need to teach your children that not only strangers are dangerous. Often, children are abducted or abused by people that they know. In fact, 90% of abuse victims know their attacker.
By teaching your children to recognize the signs of danger, they will be protected from any potential threats.
Teach Them About Consent
Because so many children are abducted or abused by family members or other people that they know, you need to teach your child about consent. When children understand consent, they will be able to control who can and cannot touch them.
This is important, even in safe situations. For example, your child may not want to hug an extended family member as they are saying goodbye. Giving your child autonomy over their body in this situation will make sure they feel comfortable saying no to someone in a more dangerous situation.
If your child decides that they don’t want to be hugged, tickled, or touched in any way, you need to back them up and encourage them to use their consent.
Consent is one of the most important things you can teach your child, and it will keep them safe in many other areas of their life. There are many parental resources you can use to help you teach your children this important topic.
Teach Children to Be Assertive
Another essential part of stranger danger is teaching your children to be assertive. This is especially important when it comes to consent. If someone touches your child inappropriately or violates them in any way, you want them to feel comfortable saying no and telling an adult what happened.
This is also vital in other situations. For example, if your child is in a public place and someone tries to kidnap them, they should be vocal and assertive in finding help.
You can teach your child to yell, “who are you?” when someone is trying to take them. Yelling things like “I don’t know you” or “you aren’t my dad” can alert people passing by that your child is not simply throwing a tantrum and that they are in real danger.
Be Destructive to Draw Attention
Similarly, you can teach your child to be destructive to draw attention to their situation. If someone is taking your child, they should hit, scream, and do anything else they can to draw attention to other people.
For example, if your child knocks things off a shelf as they are struggling to get away from a dangerous situation, people will be more likely to take a closer look at the situation and offer help.
Tell Your Child to Trust Their Instincts
When you are teaching your child about stranger danger, you must also teach them to trust their instincts. Learning how to trust their gut is something that will keep your children out of many dangerous situations.
Tell them that if they ever feel scared or uncomfortable, they should get away from the situation as fast as possible and tell another adult what is going on.
You should also tell your children that you will always help them when they have these instincts. Many parents develop a code word with their children to help them get out of social events or other situations where they don’t feel comfortable leaving on their own.
Talk About It Regularly
Finally, you must talk with your children about stranger danger regularly. If you only talk about stranger danger with your children one time, they may not be prepared to act if they are caught in a dangerous situation.
Instead, you should bring up this topic regularly with your children. You should also practice different scenarios with them, so they feel more confident in their abilities to find help.
You can roleplay to teach your child about the different ways strangers may approach them.
Teaching Children About Stranger Danger?
When you are learning how to teach stranger danger to your children and how to keep children safe, you need to be prepared. The concept of stranger danger has changed over the years, so using these best practices can help you protect your children.
Do you want to learn more about teaching children about stranger danger? The Learning Experience can help! Our childcare centers provide enriching education and other resources for parents to protect their children.
Contact us today to learn about our programs and for more information about teaching your children.
The Learning Experience – Huntington Beach
17131 Beach Blvd
Huntington Beach, CA 92647
(657) 244-8948
https://thelearningexperience.com/center/huntington-beach/?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=MyBusiness
