(Copyright 1999)
Bellman Communications
All Rights Reserved
UNDERSTANDING DISTANCES:
If a person gets within six inches of your child's face, your child will immediately feel uncomfortable. Do you know why?
Most people answer this question by saying that the person is invading their personal space. To some extent, that is true. But if a person you greatly dislike were to walk into a room that you are in, you might yell at them to get away or get out of the room. They also invaded your personal space, but at a distance far greater than six inches. Why does personal space vary at different distances?
INTIMATE DISTANCE SPACE:
The REASON that your child will immediately feel uncomfortable when someone gets within six inches of their face is because there are only TWO reasons why a person gets that close to you:
1) They are telling someone a secret.
2) They they are being intimate.
If someone is telling your child a secret (such as their best friend), the child actually allows the person to get close to them. The key here is that it is ALLOWED.
When you, as an adult, are intimate with a person, you ALSO allow the intimacy to occur. Should someone want to be intimate with you, and you do not wish it, their close proximity to you (within six inches of your face) would be an unwelcome intrusion on your INTIMATE DISTANCE SPACE, and you would immediately feel uncomfortable.
To avoid being FORCED into an uncomfortable INTIMATE DISTANCE SPACE problem, your child needs to keep the person out of this distancing range of six inches.
Better yet, all your child needs to do is remember the THREE IMPORTANT POINTS TO REMEMBER:
- Run away from strangers.
- Don't talk to strangers.
- Never get into a car or vehicle with a stranger.
The situations your child may get into may change, but the defense is ALWAYS the same. Apply the rules of the THREE IMPORTANT POINTS TO REMEMBER. |