Thanks so much for your replies girls! Jsut as I thought he would, he came into our room last night saying that he thought there was a man standing at his window. DH ended up sleeping in his room for a while, but today DS hasn't mentioned it, so over the next few days we will just spend a bit of time making sure he feels ok, and then we will have a talk to him about it - without frightening the living daylights out of him.
Tinks - I was exactly the same as you! We had a policeman come to our school and do a talk. It was around the time of some kidnappings (Mr Baldy/Mr Cruel? Something along those lines in our area) and he absolutely terrified me. 25 years on I still have flash backs of that policeman and what he said
LS - DS is the same as Charlotte. He talks to everyone. He is the kid that will come up to you at the supermarket and ask you why you have toilet paper in your trolley. I love it that he is not shy like me, so I don't want to stop him doing that. And I also realise most of the time the danger doesn't come from 'strangers' but people you actually know, so I really like the ideas in your post.
Thanks again girls for your ideas - will put them into action in a gentle, non-scary way . I like the idea of a book too so I might ask at the library, or get the girls from my old work to find something for me.
This is such a hard area to address. But I would think part of the fear for them would be feeling helpless / unable to do anything. As someone else said, maybe go through some practical things that he can do if he was in a situation.
I often discuss with my DD what to do if she gets lost (I tell her to find a mum with kids) I figure of all the people out there thats her safest bet. As she gets older I am finding I am having to give reasons, why mummy needs to be able to see you all the time at the shops or whatever, but finding when we talk about what she can do if something goes wrong it helps her process it.
We had an incident today where her Kindy teacher had told the kids to keep it secret that they were making mothers day presents. My poor DD lost it tonight, because she wanted to tell me, but thought she was going to get in trouble from her teacher for telling me the secret. But it was a good teaching moment, as I was able to guess what the secret must have been I was able to tell her that she wasn't going to get in trouble for telling me. It scared me though, how easy someone in authority could make her keep a secret. So I think talking about it is better then leaving them uninformed.
mrscriket: I hope your DS is feeling better about it now.
This is such a great thread. I'm at the stage now of educating my DD1 about strangers and how not everybody is a 'safe' person. Never to walk off with someone you don't know, to yell or scream 'stop' of someone grabs you etc....
. I like the idea of a book too so I might ask at the library, or get the girls from my old work to find something for me.
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