Final answer:
True, actively attempting to make friends with children before they can evaluate a stranger can increase their anxiety, as children at a certain developmental stage naturally exhibit stranger anxiety and need time to assimilate strangers into their understanding.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement that actively attempting to make friends with children before they have had an opportunity to evaluate an unfamiliar person will increase their anxiety is generally True. According to developmental psychology, around the time children develop object permanence, they also start to exhibit stranger anxiety. This form of anxiety happens because the child cannot fit the stranger into any existing schema, or understanding, they have of people. It is a time when the child is naturally cautious and sensitive to unknown individuals. During biological childhood, the interaction between peers evolves, beginning with a focus on same-gender friends and generally moving towards mixed-gender groups by the age of six to ten. It's important to recognize that children's cognitive and social development is complex, and establishing rapport with an unfamiliar child involves a careful approach that respects their developmental stage and propensity towards stranger anxiety.