We’re trying the same with our daughter. I figure that since a lot of abuse happens at the hand of people already considered trusted authority figures, teaching ‘stranger danger’ is not a whole lot of use. We only expect the respect that we give her, and “because I don’t want to” is a valid reason for not doing something - we won’t force her to do anything and pretend this is legitimate because we’re her parents, although we will reason with her. She has to respect others and take them into consideration, and we will rarely have to break our ‘no coercion’ rule in order to keep her safe or when there’s really no other option, but this has not been the disaster that some would have predicted and it is possible to reason with a strong-willed three year old. FWIW, she is very mature for her age and is a favourite of the kindergarten teachers - she is not considered spoiled.
Also, she will happily talk with adults and expects them to listen and respect her opinion. It’s early days, but we’re hoping this will give her tools to face the world.
