Material for AiF: http://www.aif.ru/health/article/59977 How not to scare a child by telling him about dangers on the street and strangers? Where is the line between an overly trusting child and a child who is very afraid of everything? What exactly should you teach a child so that he can act correctly in a difficult situation? Psychologist Yulia Konovalova spoke about how best to talk with a child about unforeseen and dangerous situations. “AiF”: – How not to scare a child by telling him about dangers on the street and strangers? Where is the line between an overly trusting child and a child who is very afraid of everything? Yu. K.: – We must remember that more often children themselves leave with rapists and murderers than they are taken away by force. The easiest way for an attacker to take away a child who is unaware of the danger. They easily respond to some new proposals to expand their experience - to see something, to go somewhere. Or the need to help - find a lost girl in the park, show the way to the hospital. Parents should give information to the child that there are bad people in the world who can cause harm, that besides parents and close relatives, who are important in a conversation with the child list them by name, you don’t need to listen to anyone. A child should know that if a stranger or little-known person starts talking to him when no adults are around, he should immediately go to other people. And you don’t even have to explain that mom doesn’t allow you to talk to strangers. A good person will understand this anyway. If parents support these rules and react positively to their observance, then they will not affect the child’s sociability in the future. This is just an algorithm of behavior that will change with age. The younger the child, the simpler the rule should be and the more strongly adults need to adhere to it. You shouldn’t give many options - you can talk to this aunt, but you can’t talk to that one. Later, when the consciousness is ready to accept exceptions and recognize some criteria, at the age of 5–7, it is possible to make additions to the rule. For example, changes may concern communication with teachers at school. Until then, let the rule be one and quite strict: if a parent is not around, you cannot talk to another adult, you must immediately go to your adult. It is better to teach the child what to do. Because when you say what not to do, it implies that you need to come up with the right action yourself. At an early age, children do not have this ability; the child chooses from a repertoire of learned actions - seen or tried. Teach the child how to interact with the world. Everything that you do not teach will be perceived as natural and normal. If a child, every time he goes out into the yard, sees drunk men, he will perceive drunk men as the natural state of some people. If you tell him that a drunk person is not entirely adequate, how to recognize him and how to interact with them, then the child will learn that this is not a natural and even dangerous state. There is a type of children who often find themselves in situations of threat from adults - these are very obedient children. Most likely, the reason for this is a fairly strict upbringing, where any behavior that does not meet the expectations of the parents is punished in one way or another: in word, deed, silence, or in some other way. For such children, the authority of adults in general is very high. And they automatically cannot disobey a confident adult who takes them somewhere. They may feel that something wrong is happening, especially if they were told that they should not go anywhere with strangers. But he is simply not able to disobey, to resist the will of an adult. “AiF”: – At what age is a child generally ready to go out on the street unaccompanied by adults? Yu. K.: – Around the age of seven, a child develops an instinct for self-preservation. Until this time, ensuring the safety of the child is the task of an adult. But this does not mean that 7 years is.