Preschoolers are actually NOT too young to learn some concepts about stranger danger.
A child psychiatrist explains how parents can go about teaching their very young ones about basic safety.
The preschool age is usually considered to be three to four; or, to put another way, preschoolers are older than toddlers but younger than kindergarteners, but are they old enough to be taught stranger danger?
“I think the best strategy is constant supervision by an adult,” says child/adolescent psychiatrist Dr. Marilyn Benoit, Chief Clinical Officer and SVP of Clinical & Professional Affairs of Devereux.
Devereux is one of the largest not-for-profit behavioral healthcare organizations in the U.S., helping children and adults with emotional, developmental, educational and cognitive disabilities since 1912.
“I say constant supervision because I cannot tell you how many times I see parents on their cellphones with their little ones in tow.
“Yes, the parent is with the child, but they’re not focused on their child.”
Parents may wonder how to teach the so-called stranger danger to preschool-aged children, but when you think about this, why would you have to teach stranger danger unless you were planning on letting your preschooler go off somewhere unsupervised?
On the other hand, there ARE circumstances in which a preschooler is not being watched like a hawk, and I don’t necessarily mean because they’re with parents who aren’t keeping a good eye on them. I’ll get to that in just a moment.
But before I do, here’s what else Dr. Benoit says: “When I see a child following behind a parent, it upsets me.
I also see parents sometimes walking with their children on the sidewalk, and the child is on the outside, closest to the road.
“So, when we talk about parental supervision, we should emphasize that parents should be focused on the children and using good safety.”
Now back to those situations in which the parent can’t always be physically present, and as a result, the preschooler is not being watched like a hawk…
…For instance, at a daycare facility, where there might be two adults and 10 preschoolers, maybe more. What if the adults take them out in public?
Children ages three and four should be taught some degree of stranger danger, because there’s always that chance (though very slim), that at a park, one will wander just a little too far away from the daycare attendants or nanny, and end up within the visual field of a predator. The lure could be just too easy to pull off.
Another situation where a preschooler might end up lured by a predator is right outside their house while playing.
In fact, in Sept. of 2012, a predator tried to snatch a four-year-old as he played outside his seven-year-old cousin’s home.
The cousin, A-nari Taylor, kicked and karate chopped at the man and he fled.
It can be daunting to a parent faced with figuring out how to prevent their preschooler from going off with a stranger who offers candy, offers to show some puppies or says “Mommy is sick and she sent me to get you.”
In the meantime, take Dr. Benoit’s advice: Stay focused on your preschooler when in a public place like the mall; the texting can wait.
Dr. Benoit
