Talking to your child about personal safety and about being aware of strangers is one of the most important conversations you can have with your child. It is never too early to have this talk.

Listed below are some tips on how you can get this discussion started with your little one.

• Early and often!
  It’s never too early to talk about safety! Children as young as 18 months can learn to point at the “safe mom with kids” in the grocery store.
  
  
• Stranger Danger does not work!
  Kids don’t get it and adults don’t practice it. Child safety experts agree that it is not an effective strategy to teach your kids personal safety skills. If you are in line at the grocery store and your chatty 3 year old starts talking to a “stranger”, stay with your child, observe closely for any inappropriate behavior from the other adult, and let your child talk. Your child is building his social skills. Do not get angry with him about “talking to strangers” this only frightens your child. In fact, if your child is ever in need of help, he may indeed have to reach out to a stranger (remember that safe mom with kids game?) and ask for help. 
  
  
• Never frighten them!
  When teaching your child about anything, especially personal safety, it is critical to teach your kids in a calm and non scary manner. Make safety conversations a part of your regular conversations at home.
  
  
• Personal safety: It’s a life skill.  
  Safety skills, like potty training or any other skill, can not be learned in a day. Just when we think a child has mastered a skill, the ground rules change. Just when a parent is happy to see their child has mastered wearing their shoes on the right foot, they then surprise us later by wanting to wear their two sizes to small Batman costume to their first day of school. Children, just like adults, need continual support to develop personal safety skills. You may also need to rephrase your guidance based on your child’s age.
  
  The things that we teach our kids in regard to personal safety at age 2 and 4 will be very different than what we teach them at age 13 and 15. The most important thing is to keep the conversation going throughout their life, and help them build a solid foundation to stand on in regard to personal safety strategies. You may not be able to control what they wear on the first day of high school, but you can certainly make sure they have a foundation of safety skills to help them safely on their way.