Keeping children safe: undated. Ursula Wise advises about teaching a healthy level of what is real danger without making the child more fearful.

Undated and untitled - found  typed in Susan Isaacs's archive. 

"R.P." writes: “Miss Wise has been so helpful in solving other people’s problems that I should be so grateful for her advice about some commonplace difficulties in the life of an otherwise happy little girl of two and a half. Contrasting with her love of dogs, cows and horses, M. has an evident fear of owls and pigs. This is perhaps natural, as she can hear the owls at night as they hunt for their supper (I have seen them fly close to the nursery window), and they certainly make strange noises, of which I have known some grown-ups be afraid. There are also some very large pigs on the farms around here, and it is quite an adventure for a two-year-old to meet one of these unexpectedly. Every evening she reassures herself by asking, ‘Owls, piggies won’t hurt me?’ and ‘Owls, piggies won’t hurt dear daddy?’ etc. There it ends; but I don’t think she is sure even yet that they are harmless. Her love of dogs is another problem; mongrel, puppy, whelp and hound are all treated as lifelong friends and patted accordingly. she sometimes says, ‘Not stroke strange doggies,’ but the memory of a two-year-old is short. The other day she wanted to ‘go in a field, stroke big horses, then them purr’. I’m afraid my courage was not equal to this. 

“How can on teach a child to have a healthy fear of real danger? Traffic is another difficulty. There is not so much in the country, but it tends to go even faster, and is just as real a danger as in town. M. is very good except when suddenly interested in something across the road, when she still forgets and dashes off without warning. Is there any way of teaching implicit obedience about traffic dangers without curbing a toddler’s freedom? M. is beginning to obey commands fairly well now, except when specially absorbed in something. Thanks to various suggestions in ‘The Nursery World’, we are never at a loss for occupations, and seldom have any trouble with ‘mischief’ or ‘naughtiness’ in the short time we are indoors.”

It is very understandable that your little girl should be rather afraid of the owls and pigs, and the only thing that can help her out of this is her constant sense that you are not afraid of them and her growing familiarity with them. As regards the dogs, one certainly has to train a child gently not to approach too readily a quite strange dog, but nevertheless one wants to do this in a way that will not cause an unreasonable fear of dogs in general. The best way is not to speak sharply or frighteningly in warning, or say that dogs are rather dangerous, but to tell the child quietly that some dogs are rather cross and don’t always like little children to touch them. As you say, the memory of a two-year-old is very short, and you can’t expect the child to be able to check her friendly impulses very easily. The only solution here is careful supervision. The idea of the big horses purring when they were stroked is a delightful phantasy. 

To teach appreciation of real danger to little children is not very easy, as they have so little effective knowledge to go upon. With regard to the traffic, the only solution again is careful watching by the grown-up. There is no way of teaching implicit obedience about traffic danger, except by frightening or punishing a child in a way that would be seriously harmful. The grown-ups have to take responsibility and safeguard the child while she is slowly learning to control her own impulse. One should, of course, take every opportunity of pointing out the risks of dashing across the road, and the need for care, but one cannot hope that quite little children will learn this lesson sufficiently to be entrusted with their own safety.