“Dad, there’s a bug in my room!” my five-year-old asked.
“Was it the Soviets?” I asked.
“A Soviet?” he asked.
“The Soviets put a lot of bugs in a lot of rooms,” I said.
So now the child is not only concerned about bugs in his room, but about Soviets putting bugs in his room.
You really have to start them early if you want quality paranoia to dominate in their later years.
Okay, my wife is no longer allowed to give me grief for asking your children whether there were monsters under their beds.
You are absolved: everyone knows monsters are insectivores. Also, they eat Soviets.