You can often hear from parents that their child is not afraid of anything and does not even understand that it is impossible to touch the switched on iron or hot pot, approach an unfamiliar dog or run out onto the road. It seems to adults that the child lacks the instinct for self-preservation. But this is not so, it is just that the kid has too strong an interest in learning everything new and has little experience to understand the danger.
In a child, the instinct of self-preservation does not appear at some age, it is from birth. In the first months of life, he is aimed at survival, that is, the baby will definitely let you know with a cry that he wants to eat, drink, he is uncomfortable, etc. But as soon as children begin to crawl and walk, they are immediately interested in sockets, wires, window sills. And there is nothing strange in this - the baby does not yet understand that it is dangerous, and only parents can protect him from terrible objects.
Children of the first year of life have a poor sense of their body, on the basis of tactile sensations and orientation in space, they learn the world. Only in this way are they able to gain experience. Over time, if the parents do not limit the baby in everything, but control it correctly, he himself will begin to feel the boundaries and understand what is safe and what can be harmful to health.
Adults, in the first place, should not limit the baby's need for movement. If you protect him from the world with a playpen, a stroller (if the child is already walking on his own) or a walker, you can only aggravate the situation. In the future, children try to run even faster and touch dangerous objects, take them into their mouths, etc. Their main task is to do something forbidden as quickly as possible, before their parents have time to see.
In order for a child to develop the instinct of self-preservation correctly, parents need to believe in him. It will take a lot of patience to think over correctly, endure and not try to take away immediately, but control the situation. It is important not to allow the moment when the child will harm himself, but also not to forbid everything blindly.
The child needs his own experience in different cases, but there are dangerous situations with which it is better not to experiment. The task of the parents is to explain to the child how to behave if an unfamiliar adult approached, a stranger's dog ran up close (and how to behave in general with unfamiliar animals). Also tell why you can't play near the stove, how to handle electrical appliances. Of course, you will have to talk about this many times, but the most important thing is the result and the safety of the children. Situations can not only be told, but also played, the baby will quickly remember and behave correctly in a dangerous situation.
