Talking About Stranger Danger with Little Red Riding Hood

How do you talk about stranger danger with your kids?

The book “Who’s Bad and Who’s Good, Little Red Riding Hood?” By Steve Smallman and Neil Price Is a great resource for teaching your kids about stranger danger and educating them about who to trust when they are lost or in need of help. 

In my quest to find fractured fairy tales for this months fairy tale theme, I ran into this version of “The Little Red Riding Hood”, which is tailored to teach the concept of “stranger danger” to kids.

Conveniently, this is actually a topic we are beginning to approach with my four year old. He loves people and is quite social (which is AWESOME, don’t get me wrong). The kid will talk to pretty much anyone and tell them his whole life story. 

But…

My son doesn’t really have a filter and he will willingly talk to anyone who listens, even if they are mumbling to themselves and carrying a knife (an extreme example, but hey, these are my fears). There is no part of him that realizes the danger of people he does not know. 

While I would love to keep my child innocent, I also want to keep him safe.

So, this book ended up being a great fit for the things we are trying to teach right now. 

What’s the book about?

The story starts off as a regular story of Little Red Riding Hood. Little Red goes off in the woods to granny’s house and her mother warns her not to talk to ANYONE unless they are a police officer or working in a shop. When Red sees the wolf, she is instantly afraid and runs to someone she thinks she can trust (who is not a person in a shop, or an officer). But who can you really trust?

 Who is bad and who is good?

We really cannot always tell, and that is the overall lesson of this story.

The book teaches children that they should not immediately trust people that they don’t know with information about where they are going, their name, or other personal details that could be used to harm them. It also broaches the subject of judgment, which I think is especially important. Red is quick to judge by appearance, and you can’t always judge a book by its cover. 

Overall, this felt like the message that I wanted to send my child about stranger danger. 

At first I was hesitant, because you want to make sure that a book like this reflects the message you want to send as a parent and doesn’t conflict with the lessons you are trying to teach. I was pleasantly surprised though, with the quality of this story and the overall message.

I want him to still be willing to talk to people, but to be careful who he trusts and have a healthy fear of strangers. The book broached the subject of judging by appearances, and the suggestion that kids go to someone in a uniform for help if they feel that they are in danger or lost. This is the approach we have taken in teaching him to ask for help, so it lines up with our personal message in our home. 

Would I recommend this book?

Absolutely. I think this is a great resource for parents who are trying to introduce the concept of “stranger danger” in an understandable and relatable way.

What do you think?

Have you read this book? What did you think?

What other books are a good resource for talking about stranger danger?