Kids and strangers

I have a five-year-old daughter who is very kind and outgoing, and will talk to anyone (and does). Whether it's someone walking by our house, in a gas station at the beach or wherever, she is very sweet and likes to talk to people she doesn't know. I...

want her to be kind and outgoing, but it scares me to know that I haven't instlled in her a sense of stranger danger. It really hit me when we were in a gas station the other day and she said hello to an older male and he made a comment to me about her not talking to strangers. How can I teach her about strangers without losing who she is in the process. She is going into kindergarten and I know it's time to really sit down and have a chat. Help???

One more thing...to me it is more complex to me than just telling her to not talk to strangers. We see people at church who are very kind and people come up and talk to them there. They are strangers, but kind people. When we go to the bank, kind people come up to us and ask her how old she is or tell her how pretty she looks in her dress. How do I handle this? If she is not supposed to talk to strangers, what should I do in situations like this. I don't want to teach her to be rude, either.

well...if people compliment her, then you should let her be, because it is a nice thing that people are doing because they think shes adorable (which she is!!) but there are videos about strangers that you could show her. that might teach her something!

thanks girlygirl12, I'll have to look into videos. great advice, really. not sure why I didn't think of that =)

theres nothing wrong with being friendly, my brother, when he was little, used to give sandwiches to homeless people and he's turned out just fine! but its good to tell her the basics like dont help a weird middle aged man *find a puppy that ran away* or that she shouldnt go into the cars of strangers, even if they say they know you or anyone else in your family. teach her to be cautious, but not afraid, because if she grows up afraid of other people, she'll never trust anyone.

theres nothing wrong with being friendly, my brother, when he was little, used to give sandwiches to homeless people and he's turned out just fine! but its good to tell her the basics like dont help a weird middle aged man *find a puppy that ran away* or that she shouldnt go into the cars of strangers, even if they say they know you or anyone else in your family. teach her to be cautious, but not afraid, because if she grows up afraid of other people, she'll never trust anyone.