So I'm a new uncle, sort of, to my 5 year old niece, sort of. I've moved into their house and I'm finding myself with a lot of time with this little person, and due to my innate uncleness, I'm really wanting to help her grow up safe.

So I've been thinking of getting her undivided attention sometime (maybe when the power's out and Spongebob isn't on tv) and taking her around the house to show her the dangers that are around the house, how and why they are dangerous, and what to do if something bad happens with said danger. Things like the kitchen knives, lighters, etc

My thought is that if she's aware what is a hazard she will avoid them or know better how to handle an incident that might come up, like a fire. The potential problem, I'm also thinking, is, what if the dangers entice her and she's now armed with the knowledge to be a bigger danger to herself than she was before when she was ignorant?

For myself, as a young boy, an analytical mind already at work, I think that I would've really appreciated knowing. I'm sure that the average person on this particular forum shares my love of thought and understanding, and you, too, would be all for it.

But looking at it analytically, with these possible outcomes, all I care about is deciding whether this is a statistically unwise thing to teach my 5 year old niece. Has anyone had experience with this or pretty well versed in the psychological tendencies of lil nippers? As always (this is my first post here, but this always always applies), links to any articles, studies, peer reviewed published papers on this topic, which you may have happened upon recently stumbled upon, would be *greeaaatly* appreciated!

No thoughts on this?

Welcome to the forum.

On the topic, I think relevant specific and timely advice would work better than an extended tour with a whole bunch of advice handed out all at once. She'll just get confused.

You're probably better off playing games with her and chatting, besides, kids are tough little things, hard to kill.

Depends on the kid, I guess. I took apart everything in the house, from toasters to electric outlets. However, my Dad spent a lot of time with me teaching me about stuff like electricity, so I understood the dangers at a relatively young age. Tying into a 220V dryer circuit with a screwdriver helped too.

It's not us you should be asking, it's her parents.

Welcome to the forum BTW.