Freddish: Mr. Rogers’ Guide for Talking to Kids  [[3. Resources/Readwise/Full Document Contents/Articles/Freddish Mr. Rogers’ Guide for Talking to Kids|Full Document Contents]] ## Document Notes --- tags: - #Communication - #Children - #Parenting - #Freddish - #MisterRogers Author: Courtney Robertson Source: The Atlantic; Rice Psychology Group blog Reference: https://ricepsychology.com/blog/parenting/freddish-mr-rogers-guide-for-talking-to-kids/ date created: 2025-08-23 00:00 --- # Title: Freddish: Mr. Rogers’ Guide for Talking to Kids ## Table of Contents: - [[#📚 Introduction]] - [[#🧸 What is “Freddish”?]] - [[#🗺️ The Nine Steps to Freddish]] - [[#🌱 Benefits of Using Freddish]] - [[#🆘 Seeking Professional Help]] - [[#🗒️ Notes]] - [[#🔁 Paraphrase]] - [[#📰 Newsletter:]] - [[#✅ Action Items (DevRel/OSPO alignment):]] - [[#🧪 Hypotheses]] - [[#📊 Methodology]] - [[#❓ Questions]] - [[#🔮 Future Research]] - [[#💡 Implications]] - [[#🧠 Learning Styles Assessment]] - [[#♿ Accessibility Assessment]] - [[#🌍 DEIB Assessment]] - [[#✅ Logical Validity]] - [[#🔍 DARVO Analysis]] - [[#🔎 SEO Evaluation]] - [[#🎯 Conclusion]] ### References: - Maxwell King, The Atlantic, profile of Fred Rogers (context for “Freddish”) - Rice Psychology Group blog article: Freddish: Mr. Rogers’ Guide for Talking to Kids (primary) - Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood cultural references ## 📝 Summary: The article explains “Freddish,” Fred Rogers’ careful, anticipatory method for communicating with preschoolers. It outlines a nine-step manual developed by his team that reframes adult messages into clear, positive, developmentally attuned language while avoiding prescriptive directives and undue certainty. Examples use the scenario of running safely. The piece emphasizes that parents can apply Freddish today to improve clarity, reduce anxiety and misunderstanding, and support healthy development, and provides a gentle call to seek help from local psychologists if needed. ## 📖 Main Content: The piece begins with a parent’s dilemma: everyday explanations to a curious child can be hard. It situates Fred Rogers as a model of exceptional communication whose approach—later dubbed “Freddish”—focused on anticipating children’s interpretations and preventing confusion or fear. Concrete examples include adjusting the show’s “Tomorrow” song on Fridays so kids wouldn’t expect a Saturday airing, and removing “to sleep” from a script about pet euthanasia to avoid conflating sleep with death. The heart of the article is the nine-step Freddish guide. It starts with plain, preschooler-friendly statements and progressively refines them: rephrase positively, anchor to trusted adults, remove prescriptive language and certainty, generalize to all children, add motivation, restate, and connect to developmental growth. The running example demonstrates how each step reduces ambiguity and anxiety while maintaining respect and agency. The conclusion encourages parents to adopt Freddish and suggests professional support for those who want guidance. ### 🗒️ Notes - Context - Parents often struggle more with “how to say it” than with logistics of parenting. - Fred Rogers prioritized children’s emotional safety and comprehension. - Core concept: Anticipation - Proactively scan language for potential misinterpretation. - Modify wording to minimize worry, confusion, or unintended associations. - Illustrative choices - Friday “Tomorrow” song tweak prevents false expectation of Saturday episodes. - Removing “to sleep” in pet euthanasia context avoids harmful associations with bedtime. - The Nine Steps (applied to “running” scenario) - 1) State clearly in preschool terms: “You can get hurt running indoors.” - 2) Rephrase positively: “Running outdoors is safe.” - 3) Redirect to trusted adults: “Ask your parents where you’re allowed to run.” - 4) Remove directives: “Your parents will tell you where it’s okay to run.” - 5) Reduce certainty: “Maybe your parents can tell you where it’s safe to run.” - 6) Ensure universal relevance: “Maybe your favorite grown-ups can tell you where you can run.” - 7) Add motivation: “…Listening to them is good.” - 8) Restate importance: “…Listening to them is important.” - 9) Tie to development: “…Listening…is an important part of growing up.” - Practical benefits - Enhances clarity; reduces anxiety. - Maintains positive, non-coercive tone. - Aligns with developmental psychology principles. - Call to action - Parents can learn and practice Freddish. - Professional help available for individualized support. ## 📖 References: - The Atlantic profile by Maxwell King on Fred Rogers’ methods and editorial care. - Rice Psychology Group article: Freddish: Mr. Rogers’ Guide for Talking to Kids (2019). ## 🗣️ Paraphrase: 1) Original idea: “Even the TV show’s iconic ‘Tomorrow’ song was altered for Fridays so that kids would not assume the show would be televised on Saturday!” Paraphrase: On Fridays, the familiar “Tomorrow” song was changed so children wouldn’t mistakenly think a new episode would air the next day. 2) Original idea: “Maybe your favorite grown-ups can tell you where you can run. Listening to them is important and listening is an important part of growing up.” Paraphrase: Perhaps the trusted adults in your life can guide you about safe places to run. Paying attention to them matters—and learning to listen is part of becoming a big kid. ## 📰 Newsletter: WordPress Weekly: Learn, Build, and Laugh While You Ship This week we’re leveling up your web dev chops with practical pathways into modern WordPress: block themes, Interactivity API, and smarter PHP patterns. Recent updates include performance gains in core, new Playgrounds recipes for rapid prototyping, and community wins from contributor days worldwide. Don’t miss the new plugins spotlight: a site health observability tool, a minimal CSS-in-blocks helper, and a consent-friendly analytics companion. Want to sharpen your Git-fu? We’ve linked a crisp primer on PR hygiene, semantic commits, and using GitHub Projects to herd your issues like a pro. Grab the resources, share your learnings, and keep iterating—because continuous improvement beats perfect every time. - Learn web development: Explore the Block Editor Handbook and the Interactivity API guide. - Community highlights: Recaps from recent contributor days and mentorship cohorts. - New plugins: Health metrics dashboards, lightweight CSS utilities, privacy-first analytics. - Links: - WordPress Developer Resources: https://developer.wordpress.org/ - Interactivity API overview: https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/interactivity-api/ - GitHub Docs on PR best practices: https://docs.github.com/en/pull-requests ## ✅ Action Items (DevRel/OSPO alignment): Prompt for assessing alignment with open-source advocacy, contributor engagement, and education: “Analyze how this article advances my goals as a Developer Advocate and aspiring OSPO director within the WordPress ecosystem: - Open-source advocacy: Identify parallels between Freddish and open-source communication norms (clarity, positivity, anticipatory documentation). Map how adopting Freddish-like steps can improve contributor docs, RFCs, and deprecation messaging. - Contributor engagement: Propose ways to ‘translate’ complex processes (e.g., Gutenberg contributions, Trac workflows) into beginner-friendly language; include motivational hooks and references to trusted maintainers/mentors. - Education and onboarding: Design a nine-step ‘Contributor-Freddish’ checklist for tutorials, workshops, and mentorship scripts to reduce anxiety and ambiguity for newcomers. - Transparency and inclusivity: Evaluate language for prescriptiveness and certainty; ensure guidance generalizes across cultures and skill levels; provide alternative paths and support. - Sustainable community: Show how careful framing reduces churn, supports psychological safety, and improves retention. Tie to metrics (first-PR merge rate, time-to-first-review, cohort re > [!note]+ Document Notes > tags: > - #Communication > - #Children > - #Parenting > - #Freddish > - #MisterRogers > Author: Courtney Robertson > Source: The Atlantic; Rice Psychology Group blog > Reference: https://ricepsychology.com/blog/parenting/freddish-mr-rogers-guide-for-talking-to-kids/ > date created: 2025-08-23 00:00 > > # Title: Freddish: Mr. Rogers’ Guide for Talking to Kids > <!-- deep-read:sections start --> ## Table of Contents: - [📚 Introduction](#-introduction) - [🧸 What is “Freddish”?](#-what-is-freddish) - [🗺️ The Nine Steps to Freddish](#-the-nine-steps-to-freddish) - [🌱 Benefits of Using Freddish](#-benefits-of-using-freddish) - [🆘 Seeking Professional Help](#-seeking-professional-help) - [🗒️ Notes](#-notes) - [🔁 Paraphrase](#-paraphrase) - [📰 Newsletter](#-newsletter) - [✅ Action Items (DevRel/OSPO alignment)](#-action-items-devrelospo-alignment) - [🧪 Hypotheses](#-hypotheses) - [📊 Methodology](#-methodology) - [❓ Questions](#-questions) - [🔮 Future Research](#-future-research) - [💡 Implications](#-implications) - [🧠 Learning Styles Assessment](#-learning-styles-assessment) - [♿ Accessibility Assessment](#-accessibility-assessment) - [🌍 DEIB Assessment](#-deib-assessment) - [✅ Logical Validity](#-logical-validity) - [🔍 DARVO Analysis](#-darvo-analysis) - [🔎 SEO Evaluation](#-seo-evaluation) - [🎯 Conclusion](#-conclusion) ### References: - Maxwell King, The Atlantic, profile of Fred Rogers (context for “Freddish”) - Rice Psychology Group blog article: Freddish: Mr. Rogers’ Guide for Talking to Kids (primary) - Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood cultural references ## 📝 Summary: The article explains “Freddish,” Fred Rogers’ careful, anticipatory method for communicating with preschoolers. It outlines a nine-step manual developed by his team that reframes adult messages into clear, positive, developmentally attuned language while avoiding prescriptive directives and undue certainty. Examples use the scenario of running safely. The piece emphasizes that parents can apply Freddish today to improve clarity, reduce anxiety and misunderstanding, and support healthy development, and provides a gentle call to seek help from local psychologists if needed. ## 📖 Main Content: The piece begins with a parent’s dilemma: everyday explanations to a curious child can be hard. It situates Fred Rogers as a model of exceptional communication whose approach—later dubbed “Freddish”—focused on anticipating children’s interpretations and preventing confusion or fear. Concrete examples include adjusting the show’s “Tomorrow” song on Fridays so kids wouldn’t expect a Saturday airing, and removing “to sleep” from a script about pet euthanasia to avoid conflating sleep with death. The heart of the article is the nine-step Freddish guide. It starts with plain, preschooler-friendly statements and progressively refines them: rephrase positively, anchor to trusted adults, remove prescriptive language and certainty, generalize to all children, add motivation, restate, and connect to developmental growth. The running example demonstrates how each step reduces ambiguity and anxiety while maintaining respect and agency. The conclusion encourages parents to adopt Freddish and suggests professional support for those who want guidance. ### 🗒️ Notes - Context - Parents often struggle more with “how to say it” than with logistics of parenting. - Fred Rogers prioritized children’s emotional safety and comprehension. - Core concept: Anticipation - Proactively scan language for potential misinterpretation. - Modify wording to minimize worry, confusion, or unintended associations. - Illustrative choices - Friday “Tomorrow” song tweak prevents false expectation of Saturday episodes. - Removing “to sleep” in pet euthanasia context avoids harmful associations with bedtime. - The Nine Steps (applied to “running” scenario) - 1) State clearly in preschool terms: “You can get hurt running indoors.” - 2) Rephrase positively: “Running outdoors is safe.” - 3) Redirect to trusted adults: “Ask your parents where you’re allowed to run.” - 4) Remove directives: “Your parents will tell you where it’s okay to run.” - 5) Reduce certainty: “Maybe your parents can tell you where it’s safe to run.” - 6) Ensure universal relevance: “Maybe your favorite grown-ups can tell you where you can run.” - 7) Add motivation: “…Listening to them is good.” - 8) Restate importance: “…Listening to them is important.” - 9) Tie to development: “…Listening…is an important part of growing up.” - Practical benefits - Enhances clarity; reduces anxiety. - Maintains positive, non-coercive tone. - Aligns with developmental psychology principles. - Call to action - Parents can learn and practice Freddish. - Professional help available for individualized support. ## 📖 References: - The Atlantic profile by Maxwell King on Fred Rogers’ methods and editorial care. - Rice Psychology Group article: Freddish: Mr. Rogers’ Guide for Talking to Kids (2019). ## 🗣️ Paraphrase: 1) Original idea: “Even the TV show’s iconic ‘Tomorrow’ song was altered for Fridays so that kids would not assume the show would be televised on Saturday!” Paraphrase: On Fridays, the familiar “Tomorrow” song was changed so children wouldn’t mistakenly think a new episode would air the next day. 2) Original idea: “Maybe your favorite grown-ups can tell you where you can run. Listening to them is important and listening is an important part of growing up.” Paraphrase: Perhaps the trusted adults in your life can guide you about safe places to run. Paying attention to them matters—and learning to listen is part of becoming a big kid. ## 📰 Newsletter: WordPress Weekly: Learn, Build, and Laugh While You Ship This week we’re leveling up your web dev chops with practical pathways into modern WordPress: block themes, Interactivity API, and smarter PHP patterns. Recent updates include performance gains in core, new Playgrounds recipes for rapid prototyping, and community wins from contributor days worldwide. Don’t miss the new plugins spotlight: a site health observability tool, a minimal CSS-in-blocks helper, and a consent-friendly analytics companion. Want to sharpen your Git-fu? We’ve linked a crisp primer on PR hygiene, semantic commits, and using GitHub Projects to herd your issues like a pro. Grab the resources, share your learnings, and keep iterating—because continuous improvement beats perfect every time. - Learn web development: Explore the Block Editor Handbook and the Interactivity API guide. - Community highlights: Recaps from recent contributor days and mentorship cohorts. - New plugins: Health metrics dashboards, lightweight CSS utilities, privacy-first analytics. - Links: - WordPress Developer Resources: https://developer.wordpress.org/ - Interactivity API overview: https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/interactivity-api/ - GitHub Docs on PR best practices: https://docs.github.com/en/pull-requests ## ✅ Action Items (DevRel/OSPO alignment): Prompt for assessing alignment with open-source advocacy, contributor engagement, and education: “Analyze how this article advances my goals as a Developer Advocate and aspiring OSPO director within the WordPress ecosystem: - Open-source advocacy: Identify parallels between Freddish and open-source communication norms (clarity, positivity, anticipatory documentation). Map how adopting Freddish-like steps can improve contributor docs, RFCs, and deprecation messaging. - Contributor engagement: Propose ways to ‘translate’ complex processes (e.g., Gutenberg contributions, Trac workflows) into beginner-friendly language; include motivational hooks and references to trusted maintainers/mentors. - Education and onboarding: Design a nine-step ‘Contributor-Freddish’ checklist for tutorials, workshops, and mentorship scripts to reduce anxiety and ambiguity for newcomers. - Transparency and inclusivity: Evaluate language for prescriptiveness and certainty; ensure guidance generalizes across cultures and skill levels; provide alternative paths and support. - Sustainable community: Show how careful framing reduces churn, supports psychological safety, and improves retention. Tie to metrics (first-PR merge rate, time-to-first-review, cohort retention). - Leadership preparation (OSPO): Outline governance communications that reflect Freddish principles: clear policy statements, non-coercive guidance, risk framing without alarmism, and developmental framing for career growth in open source. Provide concrete examples, success metrics, and an implementation timeline for integrating these communication practices into my talks, docs, and community programs.” ## 🧪 Hypotheses: - H1: Parents trained in Freddish will experience fewer communication breakdowns and lower child anxiety than controls. - H2: Using Freddish-style reframing in school or clinic settings will increase child compliance without increasing perceived coercion. - H3: Freddish-aligned messaging in digital products will reduce misinterpretations and support healthier user behavior. - H4: Contributor onboarding content written in a Freddish style will improve newcomer retention in open-source communities. ### 📊 Methodology: - RCT with parent-child dyads comparing Freddish training vs. standard parenting communication; measures: child affect, compliance, misinterpretation frequency; sources: parent logs, observer ratings, video coding. - A/B testing in educational apps: Freddish copy vs. neutral copy; metrics: task completion, error rates, help requests. - Quasi-experiment in OSS onboarding: cohorts receive Freddish-inspired docs; metrics: time-to-first-PR, review cycles, churn after 30/90 days. - Mixed-methods: qualitative interviews thematically analyze perceived respect, clarity, and autonomy; quantitative sentiment analysis on messages. ### ❓ Questions: - How does removing prescriptive language affect children’s sense of agency and adherence? - Where is certainty necessary to prevent risk, and how does Freddish balance safety with openness? - Can Freddish scale to older children or neurodiverse audiences without diluting clarity? - What are ethical guardrails when “anticipating” interpretations to avoid manipulation? ### 🔮 Future Research: - Cross-cultural validation of Freddish steps in multilingual contexts. - Adaptations for neurodivergent communication preferences. - Operationalizing Freddish in school curricula and pediatric healthcare. - Applying Freddish to OSS governance communications and community health. ### 💡 Implications: - Parenting: reduced anxiety, improved cooperation, stronger trust. - Education/healthcare: better adherence and informed understanding. - Product design: safer, clearer UX copy with fewer harmful misinterpretations. - Open source: more inclusive onboarding, higher retention, healthier feedback culture. ### 🧠 Learning Styles Assessment: Readability: Plain-language popular article suitable for general adult readers; approximately Grade 8–10 reading level. - Visual Learners - Present: Clear section headings and bullet lists. - Improve: Add infographics mapping the nine steps; a flowchart from “raw statement” to “Freddish statement”; example cards. - Aural Learners - Present: None explicit. - Improve: Provide audio narration; short podcast clip demonstrating tone and pacing; read-aloud examples. - Verbal Learners - Present: Descriptive examples; narrative context. - Improve: Add analogies and more varied scenarios (sharing toys, bedtime fears). - Physical Learners - Present: Limited. - Improve: Include role-play exercises for parents; worksheet to practice reframing statements. - Logical Learners - Present: A clear stepwise framework (nine steps). - Improve: Decision tree for edge cases; if-then guides; checklists with criteria. - Social Learners - Present: Encourages guidance from trusted adults. - Improve: Discussion prompts for parenting groups; links to forums or workshops. - Solitary Learners - Present: Reflective reading. - Improve: Journaling prompts on recent parent-child conversations; self-assessment rubric. - Naturalistic Learners - Present: Not explicit. - Improve: Examples tied to outdoor play, pet care, and nature-based scenarios. ### 📊 Accessibility Assessment: - Screen Reader Compatibility: Likely standard HTML; alt text for images not specified. - Improve: Ensure semantic headings (H1–H3), descriptive alt text, and ARIA landmarks. - Keyboard Navigation: - Improve: Verify focus order, visible focus states, skip links. - Contrast and Readability: - Improve: Minimum 4.5:1 contrast, scalable fonts, adequate line spacing (1.5×), 16px+ base size. - Text Resizing: - Improve: Support up to 200% zoom without layout break; use responsive units; avoid text embedded in images. ### 🌍 DEIB Assessment: - Cultural Relevance: - Present: Generalizable advice; limited cultural breadth. - Improve: Include examples from diverse family structures and cultural norms around authority and communication. - Inclusive Language: - Present: Generally inclusive, child-centered. - Improve: Maintain gender-neutral terms; define clinical terms briefly; avoid idioms. - Neurodiversity Support: - Present: Stepwise clarity helps broadly. - Improve: Provide concrete scripts, visual schedules, and plain-language summaries. - Representation: - Improve: Add examples/stories reflecting varied identities and abilities. - Psychological Safety: - Present: Non-judgmental tone. - Improve: Add content warnings when discussing sensitive topics (e.g., pet death). ### ✅ Logical validity: - Strengths - Logical Flow: Moves from challenge → concept → evidence-like anecdotes → actionable steps → application. This sequencing strengthens comprehension. - Causal Reasoning: Suggests that anticipatory phrasing reduces misinterpretation (supported by examples like the “Tomorrow” song and euthanasia wording). - Balanced Tone: Non-coercive, respectful of the audience’s developmental stage. - Weaknesses / Gaps - Evidence Base: Relies on anecdotes and authority (Maxwell King’s account) more than empirical data. - Appeal to Authority: Leaning on Fred Rogers’ reputation can border on appeal to authority; mitigate by citing empirical communication studies. Suggestions: - Add references to developmental psych research (e.g., theory of mind development, language acquisition) to bolster claims. - Provide measurable outcomes or studies comparing phrasing effects on child anxiety/compliance. 🔍 Positive reasoning instances: - Consistent Analogies: The single running scenario illustrates progressive refinement—strengthens transferability. Improve by adding 2–3 varied scenarios. - Ethical Reasoning: Emphasizes non-directive, non-alarming communication—supports autonomy and safety. Improve by clarifying limits (e.g., when direct instruction is necessary). Fallacies noted: - Mild Appeal to Authority: Implicitly, “Rogers did this, therefore it’s best.” Remedy: Add empirical support and boundary conditions. - Potential Hasty Generalization: Infers broad effectiveness from select examples. Remedy: Acknowledge variability among children and contexts. 🔍 DARVO Analysis: - Deny: No denial patterns; the article does not refute accusations or minimize harms. - Attack: No personal attacks; tone is supportive and educational. - Reverse Victim and Offender: Not present; no framing of a party as a wrongly accused victim. Context and cues: - Tone: Warm, instructive, empathetic toward parents and children. - Rhetoric: Uses gentle guidance and examples; no manipulative reframing typical of DARVO. Conclusion: No DARVO tactics detected. ### 🔍 SEO Evaluation: - Keywords: - Present: “Freddish,” “Mr. Rogers,” “communicating with children,” “parenting.” - Improve: Include long-tail variants: “how to talk to preschoolers,” “child-friendly language techniques,” “Fred Rogers communication method.” - Meta Description: - Ensure a 150–160 char summary including “Freddish” and “communicating with children,” e.g., “Learn Mr. Rogers’ ‘Freddish’—a nine-step method to communicate with children clearly, positively, and developmentally.” - Title Tag: - Include primary keyword near start: “Freddish: Mr. Rogers’ Method for Talking to Children.” - Headers: - Use H2/H3 structure with keywords in some headings (“Nine Steps to Freddish,” “Benefits of Freddish for Parents”). - Content Length: - Adequate for a blog; consider expanding with additional scenarios and FAQs to reach 1,200–1,800 words. - Internal/External Links: - Add internal links to related parenting resources; external links to The Atlantic profile and child-development references. - URL Structure: - Keep concise, e.g., /parenting/freddish-mr-rogers-guide. - Image Optimization: - Add descriptive alt text (e.g., “flowchart of the nine Freddish steps”), optimized filenames, and compressed sizes. - Mobile Optimization: - Ensure responsive layout; test Core Web Vitals; defer non-critical scripts. - User Engagement: - Add CTAs: download a Freddish checklist; comment prompts; related articles. - Schema Markup: - Add Article schema; consider FAQ schema for common questions about Freddish. - Social Sharing: - Add Open Graph/Twitter Card tags with compelling preview text and image; include share buttons. ## 🎯 Conclusion: Freddish distills Fred Rogers’ anticipatory, compassionate approach to speaking with children into nine practical steps that prioritize clarity, positivity, and developmental fit. The article illustrates how small linguistic choices can prevent misunderstanding and anxiety, offers a replicable framework parents can use immediately, and suggests professional support where needed. Beyond parenting, the method’s principles translate well to education, healthcare, product UX, and community communications—anywhere respectful, clear, and inclusive messaging matters. <!-- deep-read:sections end --> ## Highlights - • “State the idea you wish to express as clearly as possible and in terms preschoolers can understand.” Example: You can get hurt running indoors. • “Rephrase in a positive manner.” Example: Running outdoors is safe. • “Rephrase the idea, bearing in mind that preschoolers cannot yet make subtle distinctions and need to be redirected to authorities they trust.” Example: Ask your parents where you’re allowed to run. • “Rephrase your idea to eliminate all elements that could be considered prescriptive, directive, or instructive.” Example: Your parents will tell you where it’s okay to run. • “Rephrase any element that suggests certainty.” Example: Maybe your parents can tell you where it’s safe to run. • “Rephrase your idea to eliminate any element that may not apply to all children.” Example: Maybe your favorite grown-ups can tell you where you can run. • “Add a simple motivational idea that gives preschoolers a reason to follow your advice.” Example: Maybe your favorite grown-ups can tell you where you can run. Listening to them is good. • “Rephrase your new statement, repeating the first step.” Example: Maybe your favorite grown-ups can tell you where you can run. Listening to them is important. • “Rephrase your idea a final time, relating it to some phase of development a preschooler can understand.” Example: Maybe your favorite grown-ups can tell you where you can run. Listening to them is important and listening is an important part of growing up. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hnb6xdf4qyzg77d6jcfkpmkb)) - Note: How to communicate effectively with preschoolers in 8 steps. When you talk to kids, it's important to use words they understand. If you want to tell them that running inside can be dangerous, you should also tell them that running outside is safe. And if they're not sure where it's okay to run, they should ask their parents. It's important to listen to grown-ups you trust, like your parents or other adults you like. Listening to them is good and helps you grow up.