There are allegedly one million child abductions or children going missing each year in America - that's an astonishing number! It's important to demonstrate and guide our children on safe conduct when out and about so as to keep them safe.

Here are a few tips to tell pre-school children:

• Strangers - explain the difference between a stranger (someone you don't know) and an unknown person who can be of help (policeman, lollipop lady etc)
• Explain that if they are lost, it is okay to approach a staff member in a shop to ask for help.  Show them the uniform and where the staff tend to congregate
• Try to instill the idea that they can ask a stranger for help if necessary, but they should not go anywhere with a stranger that approaches them
• Make it clear that no stranger should ever touch them and that they can so "no" if they are not sure of anything
• You need to explain that if anyone tries to take them anywhere, they can scream, kick and shout for help and say "I do not know this man/woman!"
• They should never answer the front door
• They should never get into a car with anyone

Here are a few tips to remember:

• Never leave a child unattended: in a car, buggy or anywhere in public
• Never let your child go to public toilets alone
• Never let your child go anywhere alone even if it's a school event or popping to the shops somewhere near your home
• Never ask anyone to mind your child while you do something
• Always keep them close by in busy places
• Have a rule should you become separated: always meet in the entrance of the shop or by the pay point.

Babies begin to understand rules even before their first birthday, but the ability to form and adapt rules in their mind happens only after a few years.  From early on, your baby will learn to interpret when you say not to touch something but the formation of 'executive function', where a child truly begins to think, understand and analyse for themselves, develops slowly over their first five years.

Executive function is the ability to examine a situation, apply behaviour known on learned rules or experience, and then be able to refine their behaviour based on the outcome for future experiences.  For example, a baby will open a cupboard and pull everything out, but it takes an older child to actively look for a packet of biscuits in the cupboard, learn how to get to them if they are out of reach and manage to obtain them.  This development takes several years and isn't simply down to experience, the part of the brain that assists executive function is one of the last parts of the brain to develop.

By four years old, your toddler is more intelligent than the adult of any other species on the planet!  This may seem surprising, but no other animal comes near to having the understanding or reasoning of a four year old child.  Of course, in human terms, there's still an awfully long way to go, but next time your little one does something that makes you proud, just remember that they're already inside the top 0.1% of most intelligent creatures on earth!